


Live for yourself this time around, Little Alchemist

by Black Dragon on the Rocks (animealam)



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Neglect, De-Aged Edward Elric, Dimension Travel, Ed Swears, Explicit Language, F/M, Female Edward Elric, Gen, Magic, Modern Amestris, Modern Era, Other Fandoms Not Mentioned in Tags, Roy/Ed very far in the future, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Will add tags as I go, mentions of sexual abuse, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 46,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27470872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animealam/pseuds/Black%20Dragon%20on%20the%20Rocks
Summary: Truth did not accept Ed's alchemy as payment for his brother, instead It asked for Ed's body and two favors. Ed would be able to do what no male alchemist could, bring forth life. The favors? Save a world were his counterpart died after the Human Transmutation, and live for herself this time around. Ed agreed, he'd do anything for Alphonse even becoming a girl. Not Mpreg, no slash.
Relationships: Edward Elric & Riza Hawkeye, Edward Elric & Roy Mustang, Edward Elric & Team Mustang, Edward Elric & Winry Rockbell, Edward Elric/Roy Mustang
Comments: 28
Kudos: 262





	1. The End, and yet the beginning as well

**Author's Note:**

> **Author:** Black Dragon on the Rocks/Animealam/Alandrem  
>    
> **Rating:** _T_  
>    
> **Disclaimer:** Nope, the characters here don't belong to me. I'm not making any money out of this, and it's for my own enjoyment and that of those who read it.  
>    
> **Summary:** Truth did not accept Ed's alchemy as payment for his brother, instead It asked for Ed's body and two favors. Ed would be able to do what no male alchemist could, bring forth life. The favors? Save a world were his counterpart died after the Human Transmutation, and live for herself this time around. Ed agreed, he'd do anything for Alphonse even becoming a girl. Not Mpreg, no slash.  
>    
> **Characters:** _Edward Elric, Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Truth, Jean Havoc, Heyman Breda, Kain Fuery, Vato Falman, Granny Pinako, Winry, King Bradley, Various Homunculi, Alphonse Elric, Van Hohenheim, OCs, Mentions of the Avengers, Maybe some Avengers, Tony Stark almost a given._  
>    
> **Warnings:** _Time Travel, Dimension Travel, De-Aging, Fem!Ed, Violence, Angst, Drama, Gore, Mentions of Rape, Mentions of Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Alternate Universe, OOCness,_  
>    
> **Pairing:** _Future Fem!Ed/Roy... maybe._  
>    
> **Timeline:** _Mixed timelines. Starts with Brotherhood - Post Promised Day, then it's mostly Anime 2003 until after Youswell, Some Brotherhood, Starts - Post Ed's 1st human transmutation, Avengers Movie._  
>    
> **Author Notes:** _Well, I'm working on a new fandom this time. I've had this story for quite a while (over a year), and have been working on and off on it, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to post it. Frankly the story has grown quite large. At the moment I have ten written chapters, and ideas for several more. Not counting the notes, I have about 60k done already, and it's really going to be a very, very long story._
> 
>  _I'll post this chapter, and depending on the response, I'll keep posting more once a week, or a couple of weeks. Will depend on how many chapters ahead I have. I'm not asking for any number of kudos, or reviews, but a comment of two would be helpful._  
>    
> **Words with Notes:** 5,524 ( **W/O Notes:** 5,167) ( **Notes:** 357)

## The End, and yet the beginning as well

## Chapter 001

* * *

They won, Father and the homunculi were gone, and Amestris was safe. They survived, not all intact, but most of them were still alive, which in Ed's opinion was all they could have hoped for, seeing as that bastard had wanted them all dead. Now there was only one thing left for him to do, and it was not only to keep the promise he made to Al when everything began—which was to give him his body back—but to also get his soul, which his idiot brother had traded for his flesh arm in the heat of battle.  
  
  
Edward could not deny Alphonse's sacrifice was a decisive factor for their triumph over Father, because without it he had been useless, but Ed was still not happy to have lost him; not after all they had been through to get his little brother's body back. He knew Truth would not return Alphonse easily, but Ed believed he had what he needed to pay the toll the bastard would ask for him.  
  
  
After announcing to those present it would be his last transmutation—and accepting his… father's sacrifice for him so he could return without losing another limb, or a sense like Mustang—Ed clapped his hands as he visualized the circle he needed to end at his Gate. He had been there enough times already that he really did not need to draw a human transmutation array anymore.

  
As he expected, Truth was there, along with Al's body and Gate. The bastard actually looked pleased to see him, which Ed thought was unnerving. They had been in silence staring at each other until the young alchemist could not take it anymore.  
  
  
"I've come for my little brother, Asshole," Ed informed the bastard. His tone let Truth know he was not leaving without Alphonse.  
  
"As I knew you would, Little Alchemist." The youth made it clear, from the second time he appeared before It voluntarily, he was not leaving his brother's body there. Now it was more than just the body, but the Little Alchemist was stubborn enough to attempt to retrieve his brother from death.

  
He gave up an arm for his brother's soul when he was a small child, and would have given much more than that if Truth had demanded it. The exchange back then had not really been equivalent, but It had been intrigued by the young human's will power, determination, and love for his younger brother. Besides, the Little Alchemist had paid whatever toll had been left pending through the years… with interest because his life had not been an easy one, even if he did his best to hide it, specially from his younger brother.  
  
  
"What are you willing to give in exchange?" It asked intrigued again.  
  
"My Gate," Ed told the bastard. _'My alchemy,'_ he thought, because now he knew the Gates were what gave alchemists their power.  
  
"I see..." It was a bit surprised at that, Truth had not thought the Little Alchemist would be willing to part with his alchemy.  
  
  
The youth was the most powerful and brilliant alchemist in their world, even above his father, and the young one did not have the advantages Hohenheim had had. He was not using a Philosopher's Stone, because Edward Elric did not need it. There was so much for him to do, and he would only get better, because he was still so young. It was... not pleased with the young alchemist's decision.  
  
  
"Are you sure you can live without alchemy, to become an ordinary human, Little One?"  
  
"I. AM. NOT. LITTLE!" Ed growled. He had actually grown, while he was slightly below the average height for an Amestrian of his age group, he was taller than Winry now, and she was tall for a girl. "And yes, I can live without it. I have friends, and family with me, that's all I need, because an ordinary human is all I ever been, Bastard."  
  
  
The answer was the right one to such a question, yet It was still not pleased, specially because Truth did not consider Alphonse Elric an equivalent exchange for the youth's alchemy; not with the young human's potential. Truth was not counting the fact he actually owed the Little Alchemist for all he had been put through—although it probably should—and which had counted as part of the toll paid for the human transmutation.  
  
  
"Your answer is the correct one, Mr. Al-che-mist, but the exchange is not equivalent," Truth told the youngster, then just waited for the explosion, and the youth did not disappoint.  
  
"WHAT?" Ed had been so sure his Gate would be enough. "Then take my soul as well." He was sorry to leave Al alone, but he HAD to make things right for his brother. It had been his mistake, and his own childish arrogance which got them in trouble, and it should be him who paid the price for what they tried to do.  
  
"You misunderstand me, young one. It's your brother who isn't enough," It pointed out.  
  
"Not enough?" He asked dumbfounded. _'How can Al not be enough?'_ His little brother meant everything to him. "But... but you said there was nothing equivalent to a soul..."  
  
"We are not talking just about his body and soul, which he willingly sacrificed for your flesh arm," It reminded the young alchemist. "But about all those souls your alchemy helped free, and all those who were, and will be saved in the future by the Fullmetal Alchemist."  


Ed stared shocked, because he had not expected Truth would be thinking about what Ed would do with his alchemy in the future. His shoulders slumped because he was not sure there was a way to top whatever good he had not done yet. 

  
"Then, what do you want for my brother, Bastard?" Ed would give his arm again... hell all of his limbs for Alphonse.  
  
"I'm... not certain," It said surprising the youth, and itself, being uncertain was not something which had happened to It before. 

"Take the arm back, heck both of them if you want to, and my good leg as well, but please give me my little brother back," Ed practically begged. Having automail was no walk in the park, hell, it was fucking painful, but Alphonse was worth any pain he suffered, Ed could live with it, as long as his little brother was back on the land of the living.

"Go take a trip through your Gate while I think," Truth said waiving its hand dismissively towards the Little Alchemist's Gate. The black hands were already coming out of the open Gate, and grabbed the surprised youth before he had a chance to fight them off. "I rarely do this, but this one is on me. Consider your toll for this trip already paid, Mr Al-che-mist."  
  
  
It was already pondering what to do as the youth was hauled back into his Gate, so Truth turned away from the young alchemist in dismissal, and plopped itself on the floor to think what to do with the human who had been through the Gate more times than any other alchemist before him. There must be something It needed which would make the exchange equivalent.  
  
  
It found itself in a dilemma, something which had happened so rarely Truth had forgotten the last time it came across one. The Little Alchemist was simply too intriguing, as well as entertaining, It really did not want the still human child—regardless of what the little alchemist thought of himself—to stop using alchemy. He was too promising for It to let go.  
  
  
As It thought, its attention was drawn to other Gates it watched over. There was trouble in one of the many worlds behind the Gates. There was always conflict, life could not go on without it, but whatever popped up, it usually resolved itself without It having to do anything. For a Gate to draw Its attention, it meant the problem would not—or even could not—be resolved without some form of intervention, which Truth usually avoided. 

  
As It saw which world it was, Truth sighed, and pinched where the bridge of its nose actually was, even if only it knew it was there. Had it been human, Truth would have probably been feeling a migraine. As promising, and intelligent as Edward Elric was, he was also problematic in ALL the versions there were of him... not all of them male.  
  
  
There were many versions of the Universe, what some humans from Earth had come to call the multi-verse. Most did not believe in their existence, thinking it was the wild imaginings of a few, or a theory which could not yet be proven by others, but those skeptical humans were wrong. At the moment the Edward Elric from one of those parallel Realities had just gotten herself killed... by her own hand at eleven years of age, and by that action, she had unknowingly doomed the whole planet.  
  
  
A planet which was—in Its opinion—one of the best amalgamations of Earth and Amestris It had created. An Earth—because that was what the humans outside of the Mid Pacific Continent called it—which was nearly a century in the future; one where there were others with powers besides alchemy. Truth sighed again, It REALLY did not want to lose that Parallel Universe, when it was turning out to be better than many of Its previous experiments.  
  
  
With a wave of its hand, Truth left that Dimension paused until It could decide how to proceed, then It watched the current Elric's Gate contemplatively. It had to admit this one was probably the best version of them all, the most motivated and determined. But he was also the one whose sole existence had been focused on his little brother up to that point in time. He began taking responsibilities which were not his own after his father left, and then after their mother died.

  
The Little Alchemist had assumed the roles of his missing father and dead mother for his brother, even when he was a child in need of parents as well. All things considered, the Little Alchemist had done a very good job raising his brother, and himself; even if several of those humans who knew him might disagree. Truth was not human, did not have human emotions, and yet... It was not satisfied with this Elric's life so far, the Little Alchemist deserved... something better. Perhaps... yes, yes, that should work, and solve two problems at once.  
  


* * *

  
The Gate actually spat Ed after what appeared to be an eternity, and he felt like his head was going to explode due to the amount of knowledge he had gained, more than in previous trips. He landed hard on his ass, surprised at the pain on his tail bone. Should he be feeling pain in that... area of his anatomy? It was not like his physical body was actually there, unlike Al's. At least Ed did not think that was the case. He stood up, and rubbed his behind absently, then he noticed Truth eyeing—or what passed for it for a being without eyes—him speculatively.  
  
  
"Well, Bastard, have you decided what you want for Al?" He demanded, hiding the fact he was slightly creeped out by the way Truth... er... looked at him.  
  
"I have," Truth said gravely because it knew the Little Alchemist would not like the toll it was asking for his brother, but would still agree to it.  
  
"And?" Ed prompted crossing his arms to hide the fact he was actually nervous as to what the bastard was going to demand from him.  
  
"I want you, and two favors," It stated solemnly.  
  
"Me?" He asked uncrossing his arms, and pointing at himself. If he thought about it, that was... actually equivalent, a body for a body and a soul for a soul. The two favors he was not sure, but for Al he would do anything. "You ha..."  
  
"Not yet," Truth stopped the boy. "If you agree without knowing what I require of you, the exchange will not be equivalent."  
  
Ed sighed, at least he would not be going into whatever that asshole wanted blind, which was an improvement, because no matter what it was, he was doing it for Alphonse. "OK, I'm listening," he said crossing his arms again, and giving the asshole his full attention.  
  
"Most humans believe there is only one _Universe_ —" It began, only to be interrupted.  
  
"There are more?" Ed could not help asking, finding that hard to believe.  
  
"—when in truth there are trillions," Truth went on ignoring the interruption, "with some continually disappearing, while others are created at the same time. All of them are versions of primary ones, for example, your own is a Primary Universe, and depending on the decisions the humans make, new... _Realities_ or _Dimensions_ are created or destroyed. With me so far, Little Alchemist?"  
  
"Yes," Ed ground out. It was not that difficult to understand, even if it was difficult to believe, yet he had to take Truth's words as... well, the truth.  
  
"You won, and did well in your Reality, but a version of you died before its time in one of my F _ullmetal Alchemist Universes_ ," and the name got him a raised eyebrow from the Little Alchemist, Truth decided to ignore him, "one of the most promising ones, and doomed it because there won't be anyone to stop the homunculi. I don't want to lose it."  
  
"You want me to take over the version of me there, and take on Father again?" Now, that was... he was not exactly sure what it was, but Truth was a manipulative bastard, if there ever was one. Could he actually go through all that again, when they had just defeated Father? It did not take him long to decide, he would do whatever was necessary to get Alphonse's body and soul back where they belonged.

"Bingo!" It actually clapped. "That is favor number one, and as you well know, no easy feat. Know that if you agree, you won't ever go back to your own Dimension, Little Alchemist. You will be dead to them, and you know the dead cannot be brought back to life. Now, this ties with favor number two.   
  
"You will LIVE, Edward Elric, not just exist for the sole purpose of giving your brother his body back. You still need to become a State Alchemist, but you must give yourself the chance to be a... teenager, specially because the Alphonse Elric of that Dimension died in an accident shortly before your counterpart performed the Human Transmutation..."  
  
"Alphonse died?" Ed interrupted in shock. He was not sure he could live in a place where his little brother was gone. Al was everything to him.  
  
"Yes, and YOU had nothing to do with it. He tripped with his undone shoe laces, fell down your house's stairs, and broke his neck."  
  
"The other me tried to bring him back," Ed realized horrified. "It was Al, and not Mom."  
  
"The little idiot tried both, at the same time," Truth deadpanned.  
  
"Oh fuck!" Ed exclaimed in shock as his knees gave out. The amount of power needed... and the toll... "That killed him."  
  
"No, it didn't. You counterpart is actually the most powerful version of you all. The fact that the Hohenheim of that Dimension experimented on his own child..."  
  
"THE BASTARD DID WHAT?" he exclaimed in shock.

  
Ed now knew his father had somewhat cared about them, and actually left to protect them—among other things, even if Ed still could not reconcile with, or completely forgive, the abandonment he felt all those years ago—so he could not believe what the asshole said. Hohenheim did have some morals, and experimenting on his children would certainly go against them.

  
"He did love his children," Truth confirmed, "and what he did was actually to protect them from the Dwarf in the Flask and its homunculi. He wanted them to have a fighting chance, because physically no human could have defeated a homunculi, but his enhancements would have done precisely that. Unfortunately, he never got around to do the same to his youngest son. 

"Your counterpart never used drawn arrays, and did not even need to clap, although the youngster did. The child was stronger, more agile, faster, more flexible, with sharper senses, and a seventh sense... a Warning/Danger Sense. He also gave the child magic, and while it exists in that _Universe_ , the version he copied comes from another Dimension.

"Magic does not follow the laws of equivalent exchange, and it's imperative that you accept this, because otherwise you won't be able to use it to its full potential. Magic does have rules, they simply are in contradiction with those of other... disciplines.

"As to your counterpart becoming a magical being, this was possible because, unlike the one you know, that Hohenheim discovered the existence of _Parallel Universes_. He freed some of the souls he had to travel between Dimensions."  
  
"That me is a chimera!" Ed exclaimed shocked, because, how else could Hohenheim achieve all those characteristics in a human, but to merge them with animals who had them?  
  
"No, Little Alchemist, your counterpart is 100% human, although a modified one, and is not the only modified human in that particular Reality. Your father has always been a wanderer, and it just happens the world outside the Mid Pacific Continent"—Truth thought those humans were really not very creative with its name—"is much larger, and for a while it was more advanced, even if alchemy is unknown outside of it.

"There are other modified humans in other countries who were created by scientists, as well as naturally mutated ones. The science and technology of this particular Reality are much more advanced than you could ever imagine, as it is over ninety years ahead of where you come from.

"With the modifications Hohenheim made to your counterpart—whose body you will inhabit—you'll have the tools needed to fight the homunculi, and take care of Father, even if you don't have a brother to act as backup. If you wish, you can make yourself a companion, be assured you will have the means to do so, and it might not be a bad idea with your propensity to find trouble." The later Truth added as an afterthought.  
  
"If I do this for you, you'll give Al back? You'll let him live?" Ed asked already knowing he would accept whatever Truth asked of him no matter what it was.  
  
"Yes," Truth confirmed, then offered to sweeten the deal for the Little Alchemist, "your brother will even be in the physical shape a boy his age should have. It'll be like he had never lost his body. He will be completely healthy."  
  
"Ok..." Ed agreed, and passed a hand through his messy hair. It was going to be hard living without Alphonse by his side, but he would do his best, because the one he grew up with would still be alive, just not where Ed could see him again. "How did he... my counterpart... die?" He could not help asking as the bastard said the Human Transmutation had not killed him.  
  
Truth was silent for a moment knowing his answer would not sit well with the young one, even when It knew the Little Alchemist would still accept the deal. "She killed herself shortly after the Flame Alchemist's visit. She had nothing to live for without her brother."  
  
"She..." Ed gasped, and now he understood why the bastard wanted him to wait before deciding; how... considerate of It. "My body..." now he could see why It wanted that.  
  
"Yes," Truth responded simply.  
  
"I am no girl." Although his long hair had him confused with one more than once. Those who did regretted it.  
  
"She was a tomboy, and like you she raised herself and her brother to the best of her abilities since your mother died," Truth countered. "Thankfully the social standards of that Dimension aren't as restrictive as your own. She hasn't worn a dress since her mother's funeral, and doesn't have to unless it's something she really wants."  
  
"But, I... like women," he said slowly. Truth be told, he was not so certain he liked only women... his eyes had strayed towards men more often than not, but... that did not mean he preferred men over women... right?  
  
"Are you certain?" Truth enquired already knowing the answer. It, after all, knew the young alchemist better than he knew himself.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ed was not sure he liked the implication. He glared at the bastard.

  
Men liking men, and women liking women was... taboo in Amestris, and it was also a death sentence. It was even considered a worse sin than Human Transmutation. The Führer had written laws against such relationships, and while Ed was not one to follow the rules, he had seen what was done to those who broke this particular law before they were... executed. It was... awful. 

  
"You never allowed yourself to even think about it, Little Alchemist; and it was not just your country's laws against same gender couples. Your whole being was focused on getting your brother's body back, the Philosopher's Stone, and later defeating Father. You did not even allow yourself to do what all teenagers do, which is to explore your own body," Truth pointed out.  
  
"Shuddup!" Ed exclaimed mortified, and he was sure his face was redder than his coat had been.  
  
  
He could not deny wanting to explore, specially after he started having those... dreams, but Al was around most of the time, and Ed was not about to... touch himself with him there, or just in the other room. Besides, he was not completely... ignorant about sex, Ed had read several books in the library, and heard soldiers talking about it in... great detail. He had even accidentally caught a few people going at it, and that was... way too awkward, and embarrassing.  
  
  
"I am you, Little One. You are latching to that girl because she's familiar, she's comfortable, safe, and everyone expects you to—even her—but she won't make you happy. You will exist, but not truly live. This is your chance to decide what you want, and who you want, your chance to do what no male alchemist can. Create and bring forth life."  
  
"You give me your word Al will have a healthy body, and you won't collect a toll from him? You will let him live a good life, you won't mess with him?" Ed needed to know that what he was giving up was worth the sacrifice, that leaving Alphonse alone, and changing what he was, was the right decision.  
  
"He will, and I will allow him to live without anymore intervention on my part," Truth promised.  
  
Ed took a deep breath and slowly let it out. _'For Alphonse, I'm doing this for him because he’s worth it.'_ "Then..." he took another deep breath, steeling himself for the literally life changing decision he was going to take. "Then I agree," he said standing tall, his chin up.  
  
"Good," Truth said with a satisfied nod, and Alphonse Elric appeared.  
  
  
The younger boy's body was naked, with his dull golden blond hair long enough to reach his knees. He was so thin, pale, and frail, but Ed suspected that was to be expected. He had been there for nearly five years, and Alphonse's body had still grown; it was not the body of a ten year old, but a fifteen year old teenager, which pleased him. It would have been awful for Al to have a little kid's body when he was not one.

  
Then, before Ed's eyes, Alphonse began filling up, and gaining both muscles—like he should have with the way he fought, and he had always been the better fighter—and color. Before long, his brother looked completely healthy, and he stood up. Al was about a head taller than Ed—to his chagrin. His muscles were not as defined as his own, but then, his younger brother did not have to deal with the extra weight of automail.  
  
  
"Brother?" Al asked as he saw Ed before his Gate in that white place. He looked the worse for wear, but alive, and with two flesh arms. "Did we win?"  
  
"Al!"

  
He rushed to his baby brother, and hugged him with all he had, tears flowing freely, something he had rarely allowed himself, not until Alphonse had his body back and could cry again. Ed understood Truth was being generous, allowing him to say goodbye, to see his brother healthy and well, because he would not have a brother where he was going.

  
"I love you, Alphonse. I love you more than anything in this world," he said, voice full of emotion. "Never forget that. You're my life, little brother."  
  
"Ed? What?" Al asked confused and scared. His brother was not one for those emotional displays, specially not those where he actually cried, which he was doing. He still returned the hug, because it was something he had wanted to do since that night. "What's wrong, Brother?"  
  
"This is goodbye, Al. I won't be coming back with you," he said still not letting go.  
  
"No! No brother, you can't! You can't give your life for me!"  
  
"You gave yours for me, why can't I do the same?" he asked, then added hoping it would help his brother accept his decision. "I… I won't die, at least not because of this. Truth asked... a couple of favors in exchange for your body and soul. I'll be going away to a... new world to take care of a problem for the bastard," he explained.  
  
"Then you'll come back?" He asked hopeful.  
  
"No, once I go there I can't come back, and nothing will bring me back," he stated firmly to keep his brother from trying to recur to human transmutation to get him back. "My... body will be dead back home, but I won't be. Don't do anything stupid, Alphonse..."  
  
"That's what you do, and this IS stupid!" He pushed his shorter older brother at arms length to give him a stern look.  
  
"No it's not," he insisted. "Please understand, Al. You're everything to me..."  
  
"What about Winry?"  
  
Ed sighed, Truth was right about his feelings for her, and the fact people were really pushing her on him, including his little brother. "It's complicated. She's more like a sister to me. I love her, but not THAT way. She and everyone expect us to be together..."  
  
"So you're doing this to avoid her?" Al's brows furrowed realizing that yeah, people were not so subtly pushing Ed towards Winry. Edward never took well to people trying to manipulate him.  
  
"No, I'm doing this because it's the only way for you to go back body and soul," he said firmly. "The only way for you to actually have a life, a family, and for you to be safe. There are still people out there who would love to tear the armor apart wanting to know how the blood seal works."  
  
"Ed, you don't know what you're getting into..." Alphonse started knowing his brother tended to jump into things before he thought things through.  
  
"Actually, I do," and he smirked at his little brother's surprised face. "Truth wouldn't allow me to make a decision until I knew what it was asking of me."  
  
"That's... considerate of It." There was sarcasm in his tone, and a glare directed at the white being.  
  
"Please, Al... I already agreed, and It's already gotten your body and soul together, as well as healed you as part of the exchange. This was just goodbye... and to ask you to let me go, as nothing will bring me back."  
  
"I'm... angry," Al said after being quiet for a few moments.

"I... I don't blame you." He really could not. Al had all the right in the world to be angry with him for leaving him alone.

"But... I did the same for you." He had, after all, given his soul for his brother's arm. With a resigned sigh, Al pulled Ed into a tight hug. "I... love you too, Ed. You did your best to be brother, father, mother, and friend to me. I won't forget you, and I'll miss you so very much."  
  
"I'll miss you too, little brother. Be happy, and give me several nieces and nephews."  
  
"Time to go," Truth said. It had no human emotions, but it found them interesting. The younger Elric was pulled through his Gate, not giving him any chance to say more. "The information you need for the new Dimension, as well as your counterpart's memories will be transferred when you cross the Gate, Little Alchemist. You will be able to make changes to the timeline, and save some lives, but remember, not everyone can be saved..."

"What about..." Ed started to say, because he had just realized there might be a chance to save Nina, as well as Hughes.

  
He had not known them for long, but he felt guilty for their death. He should have noticed the signs of Tucker's first talking chimera being a human one, yet he did not, and poor Nina paid the price. As to Hughes, he got too close to the truth of what were the homunculus plans for Amestris and its population; and it was Ed's fault. It had been his discovery of what the Philosopher's Stone was, as well as what happened in lab five, which led Hughes to investigate further, and to become the homunculi's target.

  
"The girl and the family man can be saved," Truth decided to inform the youth. It knew those deaths weighted heavily on his soul, "and as I said, you can make changes. There are some events that no matter what you do, cannot be changed, the main example being Promised Day."

"But..." Ed started to protest. If there was one catastrophic event he wanted to avoid, it was that one.

"It will happen, no matter what you do. But while you cannot stop it, you can indeed be better prepared for it, and make things less difficult for your side. You won't be able to tell anyone about being a Dimension Traveler..." Truth went on, "although you can hint it to the Flame Alchemist and his best friend, they can put two and two together and come up with four.  
  
"Be warned, there ARE more differences between the Dimensions besides your counterpart being female and being several decades in the future. I'll send you to that first meeting with the Flame Alchemist, which won't be the same as the one you lived through before... oh, and State Alchemists can be female in this Reality, although there are none yet. Remember to live, Little Alchemist."


	2. First Contact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long chapter, and though I try to make chapters relatively even in length my way of writing simply won't let me have as much control as I'd like. I do plan the basics of the story, but once I start writing it usually comes in one huge block of text, which then I have to find decent places to cut into chapters.
> 
> I'll like to thank those who commented, as well as the kudos and bookmarks.
> 
> Now to answer the question about magic, and some extra enhancements added to Ed, it's important to take into consideration there is no Alphonse in this new Dimension, so he needs quite bit of help to get things done. The same with the magic, it's use won't be blatant at least not for a long while, it'll be mostly a new tool for Ed to work with.
> 
> To answer the question about magic contradicting the laws of the Universe, well the existence of the multi-verse in a way justify its existence simply because every possibility exists in it. There are alchemic universes, but there are also magical, or super hero ones. Truth does mention in chapter one the Dimension it is sending Ed to is an experiment, and a mix of others. If this is confusing, don't worry, there will be a little world building in other chapters.
> 
> To end, Ed is going to mentally consider himself as a guy, because he has not yet completely accepted the fact he's female now, but he'll get there.

## Chapter 002

Ed slowly opened his eyes, to find himself in Granny's guest bedroom, which was disconcerting since the first time he met Mustang, he had been in the sitting room, just after eating breakfast. This time around, the old hag had just finished bandaging his mutilated body, and while it was clearly the night of the failed human transmutation, he was not in pain. Thank Truth for small mercies, as losing both his leg and arm had hurt like a bitch.

He had to give it to the old woman, Granny did have the good stuff, and she did not like for her patients to be in pain when it was not necessary. When it was though... and he mentally shuddered at several memories of the surgery to install his ports, and his physical therapy after getting automail. Those had been hell; and shit, he was going to go through all that again! His mind was foggy, though not enough to keep him from realizing things were not quite the same as he first experienced, because he had not regained consciousness until the following morning. After he lost it on the way to the Rockbells' house.

"Granny," Ed's voice was a very similar tone to the one he had as a boy, despite being a girl.

 _'Huh? That's weird, but... nice. Would've hated a high pitched girly voice,'_ he absently thought, and mentally giggled—something he would never admit—still rather high on painkillers.

"So you're conscious now," Pinako said frowning. That child would be the death of her, specially after Alphonse had that accident and killed himself. "What did you do this time, Edward?" Such a ridiculous name for a pretty little girl. She had told Trisha not to use that name for her daughter, but the young mother had been insistent, and Hohenheim had agreed to the name as well. That idiot had truly wanted a boy. "You did that... teleporting thing, landed in the living room without two limbs, and nearly died of blood loss."

"I... I... wanted..." he was feeling quite detached. At least he was not feeling giggly anymore.

"Don't tell me you were trying to bring back Alphonse," Pinako said with a weary sigh.

She really should have paid more attention to Ed. Pinako knew the girl was not doing well after her little brother's death, but she had been so busy with several continuous clients, and each took a lot of her time and attention despite having assistants to help with the work. Being too busy was actually the story of what had happened since the children lost Trisha, and Pinako later learned of Yuriy's and Sarah's murders.

Pinako had been left to take care of raising Winry, and take care of the business on her own. It had started while the Ishvalan War was still going—when Yuriy and Sarah left to help the injured during the conflict—and got even busier after it ended and they were gone. So much so, that Pinako had accepted apprentices to help her, and now she had two well trained assistants. She had also continued training medical automailers, as business was booming, and Pinako needed all the help she could get.

Things reached the point where lately Pinako had started allowing Winry to get more involved in the process of installing the automail ports. Her granddaughter proved she was not only a natural where automail was concerned, but also gifted. William and Helen—her two assistants—were impressed with the girl's progress, and Pinako could not deny being so proud of her. When the time came, Winry would be able to attend the best University in Amestris to learn Bio-engineering and become an even better automailer.

"And Mom too," Ed added not looking at the old woman.

"That was foolish..." Pinako began only to be interrupted by a man entering the room.

"So that's it," Roy Mustang's deep, measured voice filled the room as he closed the door . "I've never seen such a furious reaction on a transmutation before. Pardon me," he added showing his pocket watch as an ID.

 _'The fuck?'_ Ed thought bewildered. _'This didn't happen back home! Mustang came three days later, not the same night!'_ Then he remembered Truth had actually warned him about it moments before he went through the Gate... how 'nice' of It.

"A State Alchemist?" Winry squeaked slightly shocked as she stared at the tall, dark, young, and rather handsome stranger. His looks were exotic, and there was no denying at least one person in his family was xingese.

"What business does the military have here?" Pinako demanded none too pleased. She... had a grudge with the military after they had gotten her son and daughter in law killed in their foolish wars. They never told her if the one who murdered them had paid for what he did. "As you can see, this child has been injured gravely."

"This letter came my way," Roy said stepping deeper into the room, and showing them the envelope. The letter was not addressed to him, but James Herbert was dead. As the second highest ranked alchemist in the whole military—and relegated to East Command because of it, by those who hated how fast he was rising—letters like that one came his way rather often.

Ed did recognize the letter, he and Alphonse had sent several, and never really got a response. _'Did my Mustang get one of those? He never mentioned it, so I suppose he didn't, but... this is... quite different from the first time we met. Hopefully not everything is like this, otherwise I'm royally fucked.'_

"We..." and Ed had to swallow the lump in his throat because it really hurt to think about his little brother, even if the Al he had practically raised himself was still alive, healthy, and safe somewhere else. The fact remained, the one from this Reality was gone, and it hurt so very much. "Al and I, sent those letters to the bastard's acquaintances."

"When was this?" Granny asked peering at the letter, then turning to glare at the foolish girl.

"A few... a few months ago, be... before Al died," Ed looked away to the window and the storm outside so they could not see the tears forming in his eyes. Like hell he was crying in front of the Colonel Bastard... even if he was not a full Colonel yet.

"I see..." She was not pleased they contacted the military, but could not reprimand Ed for it.

Pinako knew she had not paid the children enough attention through the years. Too busy keeping the business afloat, raising Winry, and that was not counting how hard it had been to deal with her own grief over Yuriy's and Sarah's murders. She had provided the kids with food to eat a few times a week, and a bed to sleep every once in a while. It definitely was not the way to raise orphaned, grieving children. Ed had stopped coming to her as often once she was seven, when she took over the farm, and the cooking for Alphonse. Those two had been practically living on their own. In hindsight, Pinako could see it unfortunately was too late to change the way things were.

"We have been searching for your father for a long time," Roy told the clearly crippled child in hopes to get some information on the man's whereabouts. The boy frowned at his words, and it puzzled him.

 _'They have?'_ Ed could not help thinking as a frown appeared on his face. _'That's new, as far as I know, the military knew nothing of the bastard before. Father did, but I don't think he was actively seeking Hohenheim then. How much are things going to change from what I lived through?'_

"We still don't know where Hohenheim is," Pinako informed the man curtly. "There are hurt people here, Soldier, so go away."

"And good luck finding the bastard, because he didn't even come for Mom's and Al's funerals," Ed spat. He knew why Hohenheim left them, but that did not mean Ed was not bitter about it. He was not sure he could ever forgive the bastard for abandoning them, and he did his best not to play 'what if'. Ed knew it would not do him any good.

"If the boy has..." Roy began.

"The girl," Ed corrected deciding pretending to be a boy, even if he mentally was one, was only going to bite him in the ass later on. "My name might be Edward, but I. AM. NOT. A. BOY!" For some odd reason, it annoyed him to be considered a boy. "Don't know what my parents were thinking when they gave me a fucking guy's name."

"They swore their first born would be a boy," Granny told her unhelpfully.

Roy stared at the child. A girl? While there were female alchemists in Amestris, very few were powerful enough, or interested enough, to become State Alchemists. There actually were no female State Alchemists, even when the Führer had finally given in two years ago and allowed for them to take the tests. Of the few civilian female alchemists he knew of, nearly all of them preferred to work doing minor repairs, doing research, working on theory, or botanical transmutations.

The girl before him had attempted two human transmutations at the same time. She produced the most powerful transmutation reaction he had ever seen, or heard about—and he had seen that nutter of Kimblee at work, who was considered one of the most destructive alchemists after him—and the girl was still alive, albeit missing a couple of limbs. It still did not deter from the fact the child had to be extremely talented, and powerful, which was why he was willing to ignore the fact she committed taboo in order to recruit her once she was older.

"If you performed human transmutation, and escaped with your life, then I am more interested in you, than in your father," Roy told her sincerely and giving her one of his 'charming' smiles, most females—no matter the age—fell for them. "You can make a fine State Alchemist."

"This girl has done nothing," Pinako stated as she glared at the rather young soldier, "we have things to do, so go away," she insisted, her tone was firm, and left little chance for argument.

"I am State Alchemist, Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang, come pay me a visit at East City's Headquarters when you're able." He looked at the girl as he introduced himself, ignoring the old woman, then Roy walked to the door.

"Mustang," Ed called and waited until he turned to see him/her. "A warning, you have enemies in the highest places, and I mean the highest. Be discrete with your ambitions, if you want to reach your goals.

"Your team, family, and friends can be trusted, but always be prepared, and don't depend only on your kind of alchemy, diversify if you're able. Because, like now"—it was raining hard outside—"it's useless when wet." The warning was spontaneous, but Ed knew him well enough to be sure he would at least take it into consideration.

"How..." he began shocked, realizing she could only mean the Führer himself, and maybe the top echelons of the military. The fact she also seemed to know about his aunt unnerved him, Roy had made sure no one but those closest to him—meaning Hawkeye and Hughes— knew about his aunt and the girls.

"Doesn't matter right now," Ed interrupted him dismissively. "It's just a warning I had to pass. You'll hear from me if I decide to become a State Alchemist," she told him knowing he would not be happy with her answer. Yet Ed really hoped he would heed her warning.

"Very well, this is my card, Miss Elric." He produced one and placed it on the dresser. Then thinking a bit more, he got a pen, and wrote on the back of it. "I added my personal cel phone number should you decide to become a State Alchemist." He left after that, intrigued by the girl's abilities; because he thought he had heard she... teleported in search of help.

* * *

A week passed since Mustang's visit, and Ed had time to think, as well as start coming to terms with the fact Al would not be there. Before there WAS a reason to become a State Alchemist, which was getting Alphonse's body back, but now there was no excuse, because he could not tell them about his previous life. But... perhaps he could tell them about Truth's favor. There was a good chance Granny would accept it because she was already questioning his fast healing, and little scarring. He actually liked that ability a lot, with as often as he got hurt before, it would be a good advantage.

"Granny," Ed began as the old woman was changing his bandages. "There's money at the house, as well as some valuables..."

"It's fine, Ed. We don't need to talk about that..." She began to reassure the girl.

"We do," he insisted. "I'm sure you noticed I heal faster than normal, and I rarely get sick."

"I... yes, I have." She said slowly, and could not deny it was something which had intrigued her, because Edward had not caught any of the normal childhood illnesses unlike most of Resembool's children, including Alphonse and Winry.

"It's not natural, but something Hohenheim did to me..." he started, not quite comfortable calling him father. He probably never would.

"Ed..."

"It's Ok, Granny. I don't... like that he left, or know exactly why"—he did now, but was not supposed to yet—"but I do know there was a reason. That's why he changed me, and would've changed Alphonse too, but he, for whatever reason, decided not to do it. I was angry at him for abandoning us, still am, and I probably won't ever forgive him, but he told me I was to protect Al, and Mom, should it ever be necessary.

"Remember the State Alchemist was surprised I lived?" The old woman nodded. "That's because the most dangerous transmutations require a heavy toll to be paid. I know now there's no equivalence to a human soul, and that's why that type of transmutation isn't possible... I died," he told them bluntly. "There was nothing I could give that was equivalent to two souls."

"But you're alive!" Winry exclaimed shocked.

"Because I made a deal..." Ed began.

"With the devil," Granny stated.

Ed snorted, "that asshole is a fucking son of a bitch—"

"Language, Edward!" The old woman berated her, but knew it was futile. Ed practically raised herself and Alphonse after their mother died, and she had become a wild little thing.

"—but It's a... God... to the alchemists at least. Anyway, Truth asked for a favor in exchange for my life. Thanks to what the bastard did to me, I've the abilities to do this favor..."

"So the warning?"

"Yeah, Winry. That Mustang guy's an important piece, I knew I'd be meeting him, but didn't know where or when." At least Truth had told him that particular event would be different. "The creepy asshole told me the State Alchemist will help me with the task I have to do," Ed chose to explain.

He really did not want Granny to finally decide to act as his guardian, it was too late for that. Mentally he was no child, he had stopped being that when he tried the human transmutation so many years ago. Besides, it was not like Granny had the legal right to act like his guardian. Pinako never even asked what she needed to become their legal guardian, she simply gave them a place to stay while they grieved, taught him about handling the farm—Granny actually handled that for a while—and how to cook.

"You're joining the State Alchemists." Pinako was displeased, but knew there was not much she could do if Ed set her mind to it.

Edward was simply too stubborn, and frankly she had relinquished any right to make decisions for her the moment she chose not to become the kids legal guardian. The girl had already run away once—and took Alphonse with her—to find an alchemy teacher. After three months without any news from either of the kids, Pinako had given them up for dead... until one day the children showed up at her door, looking healthy and relatively well cared for. Ed had actually grown a bit. They were gone for seven months, and those idiots had only been nine, and eight respectively.

"Yes, I will," Ed responded resolutely, even if it was not a question about wanting to, but rather needing to. He knew he would accomplish nothing as a civilian.

"You know that if war breaks"—and there was always a strong possibility as Amestris was rife with both internal and external conflicts—"State Alchemists will be called, and have to kill for the good of the people?" Pinako warned her, she definitely did not like the idea of Ed having to kill anyone.

"I know, my alchemy teacher told me about it, she too dislikes the military," and Ed was sure he was in for a beating next time he went to Dublith, just like it happened the last time he visited. "I'm not happy about having to kill, and will do my best to avoid it, but the possibility is something that comes with the job. In the mean time, there's a lot I can take advantage of to fulfill my part of the deal.

"The military alchemists have access to research materials I won't get anywhere else. They have labs I can access to work on whatever I need, they will give me a regular salary—which is good since I have to support myself, and I won't be here to manage the farm—and I'll also get a research fund to pay for my alchemy needs. I heard it was a very hefty sum.

"I'll also find the allies and the information I'll need to do what was asked of me there, Granny. Like this," and he signaled his body with his remaining arm, "I won't be allowed to enter, I'm no use like this, which is what the money is for. I need you to fit me with automail, because I need to be able to move under my own power to do what Truth asked me to do."

"I would still prefer if you did not go out and risk your fool neck, Edward."

"I know, I don't like that part either, but... this is a deal I can't back out of, Granny. If I do, I die," while this was a lie, Ed knew it would be the best argument to convince the old woman to fit him with automail. "If I fail, Amestris, then the world, is doomed."

* * *

Nearly a year had passed, and Ed was ready to leave Resembool to get certified. In that time he adapted to his automail arm and leg faster than Pinako and Winry expected, but then, this was the second time he had been through the surgery and physical therapy. Edward was also in much better condition than the first time around—he healed much faster thanks to Hohenheim's experimenting—he knew what to expect, and what he could and could not do.

He knew his limits, at least those for a non enhanced human, but also had the time to carefully find what those limits were now for this... new body. Also, this time Ed did not kill as many nerves as he had done before; in fact he had not killed any yet, and hopefully he would not in the future. He had been very careful about that because Ed now knew it would make his automail limbs work much better.

This time Ed decided to pay more attention to Winry when she went on her usual rambles about automail, how wonderful it was, how it worked, and how to properly take care of it. It helped that his free trip to the Gate had provided him with a lot of information about automail, probably as much as the Winry from his Dimension had, or perhaps some of the better automailers, although not as much as that LeCoulte guy in Rush Valley—the man was considered a master at the craft—or Granny, because she too was a master at what she did.

Ed was not all that interested in becoming an automailer, but he was sure the knowledge would save him from at least a few wrenches to the head... he hoped. Because he frankly did not miss those. Most people took around three years to function normally with automail, and that included the recovery time from port surgery. Ed had already done it before, and it took him a year, so he knew he could recover in less time, and gain full movement of his automail limbs.

Besides, while this was a different body, it had to be since it was a female one, his mind did remember how it 'felt' to control automail. Thanks to Hohenheim's enhancements, Ed healed much faster than Granny expected, so the ports were installed a good three weeks after she lost her limbs. Once those healed, again much faster, Ed had automail installed although these were temporary, as he and Winry were designing a much more advanced set. It was only four months after the Human Transmutation, when the first time Ed had it installed six months after he lost his limbs.

In the time between losing his limbs, and getting the port, Ed got very involved in the creation of his new ones. They were working on two sets of limbs, the regular—although optimized—kind the Rockwells would make for any of their clients, those would be ready much faster and give Ed the mobility he needs. The second set was being designed to survive the fights he knew were ahead, as well as be the weapons he needed them to be.

Ed knew the normal alloys commonly used for the prosthetics would not be what he needed, so he had done intensive research into which types of metals would make his automail stronger, and yet lighter to carry. Once he found a few possible candidates, Ed worked on creating the necessary arrays to make them. Since he was still lacking an arm at the time—the temporal ones had not been ready yet—Ed had to resort to drawing the arrays like the rest of the alchemists. It had been quite a while since he had to resort to doing that.

It was while working on the potential alloys he could use on his definitive automail when Ed discovered Winry was quite capable of activating an array if it was to work with metals, or anything related to automail. The Gear Head had been hovering, much like Ed tended to do when she was working on his automail and he was bored, as he worked on the first experimental array for a titanium and carbon fiber alloy which he planned to add to rarer metals once he was sure the array worked.

His best friend had actually listened to him ramble about the properties of the materials, as well as what he intended to obtain with the transmutation. She had actually followed his ramblings with no trouble, since metal was something she understood. So when Winry accidentally touched the array and activated it, she had all the necessary information to follow through with the transmutation.

It had truly been a shock for the both of them, but when he studied the end results, Ed found they were quite decent. It was not yet the perfect integration of surgical grade titanium—which was not what he had initially—and carbon fiber, which would have been the result of Ed's transmutation, but with more practice he was sure Winry would get it; and get it she did. Once the Gear Head had time to think, and assimilate what happened, she was very determined to learn how to transmute the alloys used for automail, it would not only be cost effective, but she had more control on the quality of the metals.

Creating the arrays did not come easy to Winry, but she really had no need to make her own, as the problem was solved by Ed creating them for her once he knew what she wanted to make, and explaining to her carefully what each of the arrays was supposed to do. They had experimented on what would be the best type of alloy for the automail limbs they normally designed at the shop. In the end, Ed made several arrays for all of the shop's needs, Winry engraved them in five feet by five feet aluminum sheets she could use to make whatever they required for their clients.

Ed found it was a surprisingly fun project, and it did not take too much time away from the design of his automail limbs. At Granny's suggestion those arrays he designed were copyrighted and Ed would receive not only the credit for them, but actually some money as they could be sold to whoever wanted to use them, either on paper, or in the aluminium sheet which Winry could engrave. The Rockbells could use them for free, though.

Since Ed had worked along with Winry on the design of his automail, he hoped the Gear Head would not be so... prone to hit him with a wrench this time around, although with the improvements they had designed, he expected the visits for repairs would be minimal. The Dimension's technology allowed for better fitted and lighter members, with much finer motor control, something Ed had only dreamed about, and the Winry from his Reality would have killed for.

The advancements in tech had allowed him to add a few enhancements to the automail to cover for the fact he did not have his brother's back up this time around. The end result was a work of art in both his and the Gear Head's opinions. Winry assured him there was nothing like it around, not even at Rush Valley—the mecca of automail, and they felt quite proud of their design, and once finished, the end result.

The hands, fingers, and toes perfectly matched the size of the ones on his flesh members, and gave him really fine motor control, something he had not been able to achieve with his previous arm. He could write decently—not that he had good handwriting, but it was more... legible than before—unlike what happened... back home, and as he wanted, both arm and leg were practically indestructible.

Back in his original Dimension, there were some rudimentary sensors, and Ed could get the barest of feedbacks from both the arm and leg, but his mind had been blown with how much things had improved in this new Reality. The sensors available in this modern world were able to provide feedback about temperature, and pressure. Ed could 'feel'—more like identify—heat or cold, whether his automail was touched, and how hard. This, of course, had required more nerve connections, and having it installed had been more painful, but one hundred percent worth it.

With the work, and all the research involved into making his new automail, Ed hoped there would never be any reason to replace the limbs, not even if he grew up—which he knew he would. If for some reason it was necessary, Ed at least would not be left useless, and the temporary set could be used while a new set was made. He even devised a method to enlarge them as needed, using a mix of alchemy and magic—once he had been able to visit Hohenheim's study where he had the magical books—because, unlike the previous time, Ed knew almost in his sleep his new limbs' functions and parts. He had helped design them after all.

The young alchemist had used a special alloy he transmuted, after doing some research on that wonderful invention that was the Internet. Although his first idea had been to use a mix of carbon fiber, and titanium. The new alloy was lighter, and stronger, but was also a good material for winter automail. Making this alloy from scratch was how they ended discovering Winry could activate arrays, even if she was not alchemist material.

After some experimenting, and coming to the conclusion his initial idea would not be as great as he thought, Ed resumed his research on the Internet and came up with a couple of very rare metals which actually were perfect for what he wanted. Thankfully he discovered those metals were included in the revised periodic tables of the time. Frankly all the information he needed to transmute them was there.

Once he had successfully transmuted high quality versions of his chosen metals, it took him several tries—with Winry's help—to find the perfect combination of metals for his automail. The resulting alloy contained Adamantium, Vibranium, carbon fiber, and titanium. The first two had not existed in his original Dimension, and even in the one he lived at, they were extremely rare.

Thankfully, being an alchemist, Ed did not need the real metal—Ed would not have had enough money to even buy an ounce of either of the two... Well the titanium was also quite expensive—but he could transmute them from others with similar composition. It had not been easy, and he had actually had to draw the arrays he created to make them.

He also worked on some Runes—which was part of the knowledge he obtained during his free trip to the Gate—to make the limbs only as heavy as his flesh limbs. It was actually all the benefits he could get from using magic, which made it easier for Ed to accept it, and start learning as much as he could than what he got when he went through the Gate. The end result was practically perfect, his growth would not be stunted by the automail this time around. To top it off, Ed added spells that would only allow him, or Winry, to remove the automail. No more getting vulnerable—and useless—because the bad guys removed them.

* * *

After the automail was installed, and he was finally allowed to move under his own power, Ed began training his body to get back into fighting shape. The new limbs were more streamlined than his previous ones, with many more nerve connections which allowed him to have much better motor control. He was able to practice a few new tricks, and this included typing, as well as using a smartphone with his right hand.

Once Ed was allowed, he also took the time to learn the scope of his 'extra' enhancements, and was definitely pleased with what he had, even if a couple of them took some getting used to. He also began to find ways of taking advantage of his 'powers', as well as how to hide them from those he did not want to know about them. In this case the Rockbells, although in his mind, Ed knew the military would end finding about them sooner rather than later. With as many death defying... missions he had gotten involved in, there would not be much chance to hide them.

One of his enhancements allowed him to stick to practically any surface, even when wet and with his automail limbs. To be truthful, Ed knew that defied any logical explanation, and he still did not know how—meaning the scientific reasoning—he was able to stick to things. But after several migraines trying to find an answer he decided it was not necessary to know the how, or even the why just yet; there would be time later to go over the bastard's notes. So for the time being, there was nothing else to do, but accept the fact that he did stick to things.

Ed did do his best not to let Winry and Granny see what he could do, simply because his counterpart chose not to tell anyone—except Alphonse—all of what she had been able to do since she was three. She only told the Rockbells about her healing abilities, since they had already known about her teleporting, as well as enhanced hearing, and while his counterpart had never told them, both Rockwell women suspected her eyesight was enhanced as well.

Winry and Granny kept wondering how he managed to climb up the roof whenever he wanted to make himself scarce, or needed some peace and quiet to just think as well as grieve both Alphonses without anyone's pitying looks. Because it had been hard to realize that while his little brother was alive and well back in his Reality, Ed had still lost him as he was never going to see Alphonse again.

As to what the two Rockbells thought, they knew that whatever it was he was doing, it was not teleporting because that ability came with sound effects. That is, there was either a faint pop, or a loud crack depending on how clear she imagined her destination, and how tired he was when he teleported.

As a twelve year old, when he took the State Alchemist exam, Ed had been a better fighter than a normal adult, or one of the lower ranked Amestrian soldiers. He had also been stronger than someone his age should be, and that could only partially be laid at the automail's feet, because Teacher's training had also had a part in him being strong. Now, after what Hohenheim did to his counterpart's body—Ed could easily deal with one of the American or British Special Forces, which were the best trained troops of the world.

Ed could see the extra strength he now had helped to cover for his still... small size—and he actually could not believe he thought of himself as small. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter was, he really was not even the average height for a girl his age, meaning, Winry was still taller than him... much taller. He hated that, but there was not much, if anything, he could do about it, except to hope this time around that wonderful discovery which were calcium supplements would work as a good substitute of that awful cow secretion.

This time Ed knew what he would be facing, so he had added weapons training to his fitness regime, and physical therapy. Neither Granny nor Winry were happy about it, but they understood why he was doing it, Ed would need to be an even better fighter than he already was if he was going to become a member of the military. He added swords, knives, staves, lances, maces, bow and arrows—although he was not all that great—hell, there was even a chain included. Edward knew how to shoot—Hawkeye made sure he learned—and there were an old pistol, a rifle, and a lot of ammunition for them amongst the things he found at home.

Ed wondered where they had come from—they really looked more like something from his Amestris than the more modern guns available—and if they had been there back in his Dimension, because they had never found them, at least he never did. He was sure Al would have told him if he had been the one to find them. Ed knew Hohenheim was a pacifist, so those weapons were definitely not his, but the thought of them being his mother's was... disturbing.

Guns origins aside, Ed knew he needed the practice, because this time he might have to use them; even when he had never been all that fond of the idea of using those things. The fact was, he better be proficient enough that Hawkeye would have nothing to criticise. He knew many of the kids in Resembool, at least those around ten, learned to use small caliber rifles. Hunting was a 'thing' in rural areas, something fathers taught their sons, or older brothers their younger siblings.

Al and him never had someone to teach them how to hunt—and they learned to do so without firearms out of the need to survive in Yock Island—but no one but those in town needed to know that. So Ed made his own fire range using alchemy and far away from the house, where he could practice, away from Winry and Pinako because Ed knew they would not approve. Again the 'extra' strength was a asset as the guns' recoil did not send him down on his ass, as they would have, had he been a regular girl his age.

He still did not like guns, and probably never really would—at least not like Hawkeye did—but had to admit there had been times when he wished he carried one for the longer range they provided. Ed also needed to be very good because he still did not want to kill anyone, so if he was shooting—and that would be a last resort—he wanted to make sure he only incapacitated his opponent, and not outright murder him or her.

Ed also religiously practiced his battle alchemy—away from Winry and Granny as well—and slowly began incorporating battle magic. He had gained the knowledge when he crossed the Gate... but this was something his counterpart had already been working on, so Ed was sure gaining it had not required an equivalent exchange. He did not think he was missing something, or if he was, it was a very minor thing.

Using magic was not easy, though, specially when he did not have a focus—like a wand—and Ed really did not have the time to read more about magical theory to see if he could find an alternative. He did have to be very careful, and disguise the magic, because it did not require a visible equivalent exchange—although he suspected there was one, he just needed to find what it was—and Ed would rather not be studied in a lab if that ability was discovered.

* * *

Not everything was hard work that year, even if he was extremely busy with his projects and preparations, never mind all the physical therapy adapting to automail still required. He had healed from the ports installation in over three months, instead of the six it took the first time, and Granny had installed the limbs during his fourth month as an amputee. The old woman had been frankly amazed at Ed's ability to heal. Having automail much earlier than the first time, was what allowed him the time to do all that training he felt would be necessary.

Progressing as fast as he was, gave Ed time to learn as much as he could about the changes in the Dimension, just as Truth had instructed him. He found television incredible—probably one of the best contraptions ever—loved the music available, specially the one from outside Amestris, like the one from America, Britain, and Latin America; countries that had not existed back in his original Reality. The Internet blew his mind up, and finally he understood what a cel phone was.

The bastard, as he still was not comfortable calling Hohenheim father, had actually left them very well off, and his mother had added to that, leaving trustworthy people in charge of working the farm and making it profitable, so Ed did not have to worry about money. This allowed him to buy a state of the art smart phone—Winry said he had no excuse not to call... or post selfies once he left them—a tablet, and a laptop. Ed did avoid watching cat videos because they reminded him too much of Al, and he ended crying up a river, but dogs were fun.

Ed had also been lectured by Granny about what to expect as he reached puberty, because there was probably not going to be anyone else to tell him about how that affected a female body; and THAT had to have been one of THE most embarrassing conversations he had... EVER. Specially since he had yet to think of himself as a girl, which Ed knew he now was, and did believe he had come to terms with... yeah, right.

The change WAS a good thing, even if this society—at least outside of Amestris—was more open. Besides, he had spent more than a few hours ogling photos of Tony Stark—old guy, but oh so interesting—he was Iron Man and a genius to booth. Ed did spend more than a few hours wondering who was the smarter of the two of them, after all, he too had been considered a genius... still was.

There was Captain America (who was so good looking and with a body to die for) even if he had died saving his country a few decades ago. His popularity was still great, and keeping strong. There were also several famous singers, actors, and male models, from both Amestris and the rest of the world to look at.

Winry and her had even devised their own rating system. Stark was one both agreed on, the Gear Head because he was a mechanic, and Ed because the man was a genius, and it did not hurt that he was indeed very good looking despite being old enough to be their father... probably. Then Winry was nuts about an American—another country that did not exist in Ed original Reality—actor named Brad Pitt. He was a beautiful man, Ed could not deny it, and he had joined the Gear Head in drooling while they watched several of his movies all over again; still Ed preferred the Captain, or Stark, over the guy.

Ed was beginning to live, to enjoy those years he had lost being too busy, and too guilty, as he tried to find a way to get Alphonse's body to pay attention to normal teenage milestones. He never really had the chance to look at others, like most teens his age did. Ed only ever looked at Winry, and that was because as Truth mentioned, she was there and he knew her.

As to how he was dealing with being female pre—teen, he still was not girly, and would never be, but Ed was finally allowing himself to admit the male form was what had interested him from the start. It really was... liberating, and this time it was allowed, Ed could ogle guys as much as he wanted... if he was discrete. He would have been executed back in his Dimension if anyone had found out he preferred his own gender, but thankfully he had been oblivious about his own preferences.


	3. On the way to East City

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** Nope, the characters here don't belong to me. I'm not making any money out of this, and it's for my own enjoyment and that of those who read it.
> 
> **Timeline:** _Mixed timelines. Starts with Brotherhood - Post Promised Day, then it's mostly Anime 2003 until after Youswell, Some Brotherhood, Starts - Post Ed's 1st human transmutation, Avengers Movie._
> 
> **Author Notes:** _I want to thank everyone for their comments/reviews, as well as kudos. Those make me happy, and let me know if my writing is appreciated._
> 
> _I'm posting this early because last week we had a big scare, my mother was presenting COVID-19 type of symptoms, and frankly I was terrified for her since she has several risk factors. This was also the second time it happened, she was negative that time. Thankfully the test results were negative this time as well, and so I'm celebrating that and the fact her symptoms are miraculously gone, just like the last time. Now we just have to find out what's making her sick every couple of months. I won't be posting on Monday or Tuesday next week, but I might have the next chapter by next weekend._
> 
> _For this chapter, I went back to watch the anime of 2003 (on Netflix) to check people's ranks. If the translations are good, then the ranks of the military stated here are following that anime and not brotherhood._
> 
> _As to those who want to know if this will be a crossover with the Avengers, that's the plan. I was not sure whether to include the first movie or not, but I decided it's the best place to introduce the world as to what State Alchemists can do. It won't be for a few chapters, and everything will return to Amestris after the movie events, which is why I did not post this in the crossover section. Might do that in AO3, but not sure if I will in ff (dot) net._

## Chapter 3

During the months Ed was in Resembool, he took the time to write at least for a few minutes each night in a coded journal. He slowly filled it with the memories from the first time he went through everything, there were a few things he only knew about because someone told him as he had not been involved in them, but Ed considered them equally important, and something he should take into consideration whenever possible.

He planned to use the contents of the journal he was writing as a guide, as well as a reference as to what he might be able to change with little to no repercussions, and those events he probably should not mess around. He layered the small journal with different kinds of protections—for which he discovered magic was specially well suited for, even when he initially had a difficult time accepting it—to keep it from being destroyed, but also to keep anyone else but him from reading it.

Ed was certain it would be very important to keep the timeline from deviating too much—if at all possible, which knowing him, was a very big IF—and he was not really sure how much Mustang's early appearance had already changed. He frankly did not want to muddle through everything a second time blindly... or to make things worse instead of better, even if he had already seen the kind of differences he could expect.

Thankfully his memory was quite good, and the knowledge gained from the Gate told him the wizards the bastard had copied his magic from had created something known as pensieves to view memories—and that had actually sounded like a really fucking useful thing to have. Hohenheim did not have one of those contraptions amongst the things in his study, but he had the instructions to make one, and so Ed made himself a pensieve—using a mix of alchemy and magic—as well as a few other things to help with his second chance.

The journal was _Warded_ with magic, and would only open for Ed—although he might add Mustang and Hughes later on, perhaps letting them read it 'accidentally' would take care of telling them he was a Dimension and Time Traveler without having to say it aloud—so he knew that whatever he wrote in there would be safe from prying eyes. Ed gained the knowledge of how to cast and make _Wards_ when he crossed the Gate to this world, but had needed to go through several books on Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Wards to actually be able to do it.

When the time to leave came around, Ed chose not to leave at the end of September to take his State Alchemist Exam like he did in his original Dimension. He needed a bit more time to ensure the house would still be standing—and in good condition—the next time he returned home, as he had decided not to burn it when he left. The reasons he had back then no longer applied, besides, they had been back to Resembool more than once since he became a State Alchemist, and this time Ed rather not keep imposing on the Rockwells whenever he ended in his hometown.

Besides, hidden under the house was Hohenheim's true study/lab, and Ed had not really had a chance to fully explore all it contained. There was an amazing amount of books and scrolls he brought from the different Dimensions he visited, as well as technology Ed knew was probably centuries more advanced than anything found in this very modern world. He hoped to find the time to investigate everything available, as some things might end being useful to fight the homunculi.

Ed also discovered, after he found the hidden lab, the house was protected more than lab five had been by powerful _Wards_ , knowledge of which Ed got at the Gate, so everything in there would be safe once he properly charged and activated them. There were very valuable and old books from this world in Hohenheim's study, as well as manuscripts. There were also the bastard's notes on what the man did to her, plus precious metals—some gold included—jewels, and cenz. Ed took a very good amount of the later, which he planned to use once he became a State Alchemist.

He had been stationed in East City for three years with Mustang and his team, before the Colonel was transferred to Central City, and he had taken his men, woman, and alchemist with him. This time Ed was thinking he might buy himself a decent place to live, instead of staying in the officer's barracks, because he had to admit he would not feel comfortable living on his own there.

More than once he had to deal—or rather Alphonse did—with a few drunken soldiers on leave stumbling into his room in the middle of the night when they were back in East City for whatever reason. He had never reported them, but this time Ed did not have a seven foot steel armor to act as bouncer, and he was no longer a he.

Ed was not naive to believe finding a girl living alone would not be a temptation for some of those men. As to living amongst civilians, Ed knew being a Major would give him the freedom to do so, as officers were allowed to live off the base. He had just never seen a reason to since they had traveled so much, and rarely stayed in East City for more than a couple of weeks.

* * *

Ed finally left Resembool on the mid day train heading for East City on October 5th, he decided not to call in advance until he had reached the city, as the last time Mustang had been in Central. He had only learned about it when he reached East Headquarters and asked for the bastard. That had been in late September, and he could not remember when the still Lieutenant Colonel returned to East City. So Ed wanted to be certain of Mustang's whereabouts. He never did learn why the Colonel Bastard had been there, but he suspected it had something to do with his job, which the man usually tried to procrastinate.

The train arrived at East City in the evening, after office hours. It was later than the first time he traveled there, as there had been an unexpected—and not explained delay—at one of the stops on the way to the province's capital. Still Ed chose to first call the bastard's office, sometimes Hawkeye, or one of the guys stayed to finish pending paperwork. Mustang was not there, and neither were the members of his team, which surprised him.

The secretary was allowed to inform him the whole team had been temporarily transferred to Central Command Headquarters, and there was no date set for their return. East Command was still their base of operations, they had just been loaned to Central Command for some time. The secretary could not divulge what their assignment was though. Ed found this temporary transfer odd, as that too had not happened in his original _Dimension_ , at least he did not think so. He did not remember the guys ever talking about a mission in Central.

After ending the call, Ed began wandering about the station as he decided on what to do. He was rather worried the timeline was too different from his own for the foreknowledge he had to be useful. Yet the faceless bastard had told him the main events were the same, so Ed could only conclude all this, along with his certification as a State Alchemist were not part of those events, and he would have to wing them as best he could. He did not like it, but had no choice but to do it.

As Ed wandered aimlessly about the station, he absently took in his whereabouts. East station had always been one of the prettiest displays of Amestrian architectural design in his opinion, although he would have liked it more if there had been one or two gargoyles, and a few skulls. He had to admit the place had changed quite a bit since he last saw it, and while it was much more modern, with many screens showing the arrival/departure itinerary, and a lot of little stores, as well as cafes, it did retain most of the old design.

He stopped at one of the many screens showing the departures. Ed was surprised there were actually several more destinations than he remembered, a good number of those towns had not been big enough to merit their own stations in his Amestris. The only way to reach those towns had been by cart, car—for those few, or the military, who owned them—or by walking. Alphonse and him ended usually going on foot... perhaps he should demand someone taught him to drive this time around. Walking to those places on his own, while he looked like a lit... young girl was probably not a good idea.

It took him a while to make up his mind, and Ed chose to leave for Central City on the next train. Unfortunately, there were none leaving that night, the first one out of East City was at seven thirty the next day. Ed contemplated what to do, he had money to pay for a hotel room, but he rather not wander East City's streets at that hour trying to find a place to stay. It would not be the first time he slept in a train station, though.

* * *

"Mustang," Roy answered frowning at the unrecognized number calling him, as he walked away from the team so he could answer privately.

It was past ten, and he was still at the borrowed office in Central Command with part of the team planning for Major General Halcrow and his family's return to Central. The man had not made any friends while he stayed in the East, and they had had a few informants mention the General and his family might be in danger during their travel.

It would have been much easier on him, and the whole team, if the man had actually accepted to take the military plane offered to him, but it seemed the wife preferred to travel by train. The woman liked watching the changing landscapes, and believed it would be a good experience for their small children. Unfortunately Halcrow traveling by train made his job harder.

He already had Warrant Officer Falman, from his team, and Major Hughes—his best friend—from Investigations, along with thirty of the soldiers from his battalion at East Command already on the train dressed as civilians to act as the General's escort. They had left late that afternoon, and they would travel the whole night from New Optain, where Halcrow had been posted, to East City were they were to make a stop. He had also Master Sergeant Fuery take care of instructing their people at communications in establishing a station on the General's car, and he could trust Fuery to do a good job at making their connections secure.

Halcrow was traveling on a private car, which had not been easy to get on such a short notice, but his people had managed to obtain it. The private car had been ready at the New Optain's train station earlier that morning, and was at the front of the train since it would be easier for his men to keep it secure.

Some of his people were to keep guard while they made a stop to refuel and fill their tanks with water for the engine at East City. Their job was to ensure there were no attempts at sabotage, although Roy believed a kidnapping would be more likely. There were a few disgruntled groups who wanted members which had been recently apprehended freed, Halcrow was... valuable enough to the military for such groups to take the risk.

"Lieutenant Colonel?" The young voice of a child asked, making him frown. Why was a kid calling him so late, actually why was a kid calling him, period?

"Yes, this is Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang, who's calling?"

"I'm Edward Elric, Sir," and Ed frowned not liking having to sound like a respectful kid. Unfortunately he could not speak to this Mustang like he was used to. They did not have the history they had in his world, and frankly Ed was not sure they ever would again.

"Miss Elric, what can I do for you?" Roy frowned. He did remember the girl, how could he not after that remarkable use of alchemy? But he was not expecting to hear from her for at least a couple more years, if not until she turned sixteen, which was the minimum age to join the Military Academy.

"You said to call you if I decided to become a State Alchemist, and I have. I've decided to take the exam, and I'm at East City's train station," Ed told him.

Roy was rather shocked to hear that, it really was unexpected, specially the fact the girl was already in East City. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Miss Elric, but doesn't recovery from automail surgery take about three years?" The girl was around twelve now if he was not wrong, a bit too young to take the exam without someone important sponsoring her.

"Er... Yeah, usually," he admitted. "But I managed it in one. So I called your office, but they told me you were in Central."

Roy's mind had a bit of trouble wrapping itself around the fact the girl had managed what adult, hardened soldiers could not. From what he knew, automail surgery was extremely painful. Then an idea popped into his mind, he knew she was a powerful alchemist, but was she able to deal with a stressful and frightening situation?

"Miss Elric, take the seven thirty train out of East City. My time is in rather high demand at the moment, so don't miss the train under any circumstances," he stressed. "Call me when you arrive at Central."

"Ok, so I'll be able to take the exam?" Ed asked. The last time there was no problem, but with things being different this time, he wanted to make sure.

"We'll talk about that in detail once you're here," he hedged. There were no exams programmed for a few months, so he needed to think what to do with Elric until the exam dates.

Roy knew he might be putting the child in danger by asking her to board a train that might be hijacked, but if she was going to be a State Alchemist, Elric needed to learn how to deal with stressful and dangerous situations... well, different kinds of stressful situations. Because surviving a double Human Transmutation with which she tried to bring back her mother, and her brother, as well as saving herself after losing two limbs was stressful enough. Roy just needed to know she was not one to panic and hide. State Alchemists were not very popular after Ishval to begin with, and there was usually some danger no matter how boring a mission might look on paper.

"Ok, I'll get the ticket, Mustang," Ed agreed easily, it was what he planned to do after all.

"Are you calling from a public phone?"

"No, this is my phone," he responded frowning.

"Good, I expect to see you tomorrow, Miss Elric." The girl hung up, and Roy added her number to his contact list so he recognized it when she called tomorrow, and then added a reminder on his phone to give the number to Hawkeye later.

The case they had been working on had him too distracted on top of dealing with Halcrow's travel arrangements. This serial killer was simply too clever, or way too lucky, as he left no evidence at the scenes where they found the bodies, although at least they had been able to confirm he/she was not killing the victims on site. Whoever it was, took his/her sweet time chopping the poor souls up.

Maes—Hughes, his best friend—who was in charge of the investigation, was going insane trying to capture the killer, and now he was at East City, acting as an escort for Halcrow. In Roy's opinion it was a waste of resources and precious time they could be using trying to capture The Chopper, as the people were calling the serial killer.

* * *

After hanging up, Ed was going to one of the tickets stands to buy one for the seven thirty train to Central as the bastard asked, when there was a commotion coming his way. A guy had stolen some woman's purse, and was running away from one of the police men patrolling East City's train station.

The thief was coming his way, so Ed had no trouble using a bit of alchemy to stop the guy, and temporarily trap him in a cage. The police man, and the purse's owner arrived shortly after he captured the thief. After being thanked profusely by the woman, and gotten a big sandwich and a soda from her in gratitude, Ed managed to get his ticket. Then proceeded to find a relatively comfortable place to sit, charge his phone, and play a few games on it to pass the time.

He saw the same police man, an officer Beck, doing his rounds several minutes later, and asked him if there would be any trouble if he slept at the station, since it was already too late to look for a hotel, and he was leaving early in the morning. He did not expect there would be, as there were a few people scattered about who seemed to be doing precisely that. Officer Beck told him there was no problem, and he would even keep an eye on him during his rounds to ensure no one tried to take advantage of him.

* * *

Ed woke up around six thirty, and gladly accepted the chance to take a shower at the station guard's common room. He had to hurry though, because the shift ended at seven, and then it would be crowded with those getting ready to go home. He thanked officer Beck for the offer, and was grateful to wash off the sleep, and muck of a day on trains.

He had then enough time to have a decent breakfast in one of the many cafes around, and was ready to board the train on time. Ed was only carrying his back pack, so he did not have to worry about documenting any luggage. He did notice there were more soldiers than what he believed was normal, specially close to the train going to Central, but he paid them no mind. Who knew? It might be normal in this Amestris.

He was lucky, as there was no one in the seats beside and in front of him, and frankly modern train seats were magnitudes more comfortable than those back in his _Dimension_. Ed got comfortable, took some more photos to send to Winry—as he had taken a few of the station last night—as well as a couple of selfies, then simply got his headphones out and put on some music.

Knowing him and trains, Ed was going to be asleep as soon as they left East City. The trip to Central took ten hours, so he would probably get some food on the dining car later, once he got hungry. As he waited for the train to fill and depart, Ed got thinking about all that happened in the year since he arrived to the _Dimension._

He was well aware the first time around he had had Al as backup, and together they were able to take down most of the enemies they had faced, but now Ed was alone and needed a way to best his opponents on his own. It was a rather daunting prospect, but thankfully he did have some experience being on his own, as he and Alphonse had been separated for a time during the events leading to Promised Day. Ed did not think he had done too badly on his own. True, he was now 'enhanced' but Ed was not stupid, and knew there might be times when it would not be enough. He could be objective... some times.

In a move which would have surprised most people who knew him, Ed had sat up at his desk at the house, and actually planned ahead. It really was something he was not known for, but in his current situation it really could not be avoided. Ed needed new ways to protect himself, and even be stealthy should it be necessary—which he was forced to admit had been more times than he wanted to contemplate. It was also something he probably needed to get used to, since going through things a second time meant Ed could see where he did something wrong, and hopefully he should be able to find a way to correct whatever it had been.

While Ed had been recovering in Resembool, he watched a lot of television, action movies, and read a few ebooks as well—he had always been a voracious reader, just never had the time to actually read novels of any type and genre. He had first been too busy trying to learn all he could to get their mother back, then too busy researching the Philosopher's Stone. There really had not been much to do while he got well enough to actually do something more productive.

On MySpace he found videos about Iron Man—and frankly, Ed wanted one of those suits, they were just so cool—as well as any martial arts he could find to add to what Teacher had taught him in both Realities. On the Internet—and he believed that was probably the best thing in the futuristic Dimension he was now living in—Ed located as much information as he could about past Stark Industries weaponry, since they were no longer producing them, hoping to get some inspiration from them.

In the end Ed was confident he came up with something which would be quite useful for someone like him. He ended designing a trio of dart guns, two of which he integrated into his automail arm, one of them, the smaller one used his index finger as the exit point. His glove had a tiny little hole at the top of said finger so he could shoot without having to take it off. It was perfectly concealed, and no one would ever suspect Ed was armed, and ready, at all times. The best thing was, even if it had been the most difficult to achieve, he did not need to use alchemy to use that particular gun.

The other gun in his arm—the more powerful—was larger, and required alchemy. He had all parts already integrated into his arm, so there was no need to thin the material of said arm to transmute it, unlike he did with his blade. The secondary gun—as he was calling it in his mind—used larger projectiles, which would be used on things, and not people as the first gun was to be used.

The third type of gun could use both types of projectiles, but was hand-held to use when he could not use the ones in his arm for whatever reason. Ed had actually created a hidden compartment in his automail leg—since it had been rarely damaged or removed—for one of his dart guns, plus a couple of knives. He was not going to be caught unarmed again if he could help it, Ed had had enough of that to last him a life time.

The dart guns—Ed chose to transmute a few of these as a precaution—looked very similar to a normal semi-automatic gun, the likes used by this modern Amestrian military, but it was smaller to fit his current size and not look ridiculous. Once he was back to his proper size—because Ed refused to believe he was not growing to the height he had when his body had been sixteen—he planned on making something much more impressive.

Winry had not been happy to see him messing up with their creation, but she had added her own input once he explained to her why he was doing it. Ed actually admitted to her he could not always depend on alchemy to get out of dangerous situations, and as a State Alchemist he was sure there would be some... to put it mildly. Ed also used this excuse to prepare her for the fact his automail might get damaged, even if it would really be very, very difficult for it to happen. Hopefully this time around he could avoid so many wrenches to the head.

Ed and Winry had added a few extras, which thankfully did not add much additional weight to the member. He still used some magic—he actually carved some runes on it—to keep the arm lighter while Winry was not looking. The finished guns were really work of arts, Winry and him were actually quite proud of the end result. The adamantium alloy had been a bitch to transmute initially, thankfully it began 'remembering' the shape of his transmutations after several tries, and stopped fighting the changes.

The darts to use on humans had also been difficult to come up with. He needed something small, but powerful, capable of knocking a very large man in seconds, because Ed could not afford to give any of his enemies the chance to react. He also did not want to kill anyone, so normal bullets were to be a last resort kind of thing.

He had already been mobile by this time, so several visits to Hohenheim's secret study had been in order. He still did not know how the bastard had managed to get all those books and scrolls on magic across the Gate—probably at the cost of some of the xerxesian souls he carried—but Ed was happy Hohenheim had actually experimented with Dimension Travel.

Ed discovered the magicals from which his own magic was based on had a discipline called _Enchanting_ , which would make objects perform a magical action, or set of actions the _Enchanter_ desired. With the knowledge he had of his new Dimension, Ed could equate that with a programmed set of instructions, like the code a computer programmer used. After many nights staying late in the study poring over _Enchantment_ textbooks, a lot of fights with Winry and Granny Pinako, and several tests, he came up with something very useful.

He had been able to create the _Enchantments_ for the darts to do what he needed. Ed came to the conclusion he needed three different attacks for the time being, later he would play a bit more with magic, and see what else he could make his darts do, or whether he could simply _Enchant_ them as he went depended on the situation. Ed decided he needed the darts to be able to _Stun, Petrify_ (paralyze), and _Tase_ , not all three at the same time, of course. So there had to be three types of darts.

Ed knew he had to justify what he did, because Amestris alchemists were not yet ready to accept the existence of magic, and he was not ready to show them either, specially because as far as he knew, he was the only one in the whole world who could do it. So he had to tell them he was doing something else, in fact, Ed would be expected to share at least a bit of the process used to create the darts. Mustang would probably demand it, as he was a bastard that way, and perhaps later on Ed would confide in him about magic, though not initially.

He spent quite a lot of time thinking, and decided—after browsing a few bio-alchemy texts, plus some on alkahestry—Ed could say the substances were transmuted from several others, and alchemically placed in the darts. The substances needed were easy for a kid his age to access... including a few poisonous mushrooms and other plants which only grew in the area around Resembool.

Ed would imply the exact formula, as well as the alchemic array, were his own creation, and a secret to keep anyone from discovering an antidote, or a way to replicate them without his permission. He had actually developed those substances, and they had really been a bitch to create, but the knowledge he gained at the Gate helped a lot. Ed had actually been surprised to know quite a bit about botany, in conjunction with chemistry, anatomy, and medicine. Since he had also learned alkahestry, the later two came in handy.

The supposed 'antidote' was going to be another dart with the _Incantation_ to end the _Enchantments,_ but he also had to create the real thing, it had been double the work, but Ed was quite satisfied with the results and the learning experience. He was also grateful, although he would never admit it to his face, the bastard who sired him had an excellent laboratory in the hidden study.

Once he had perfected his design, it had been time to get proficient with the darts. Being a lousy shot would only make him more of a target, so Ed had trained hard, until he became almost as accurate with the darts as Hawkeye. He practiced with his arm guns, the second of which could use normal bullets should it be necessary—Ed actually learned how to make them himself in case it was needed—although he rather never use them, and a few combinations of explosive ones he came up with, as well as the hand held versions.

Ed could say he became very quick to draw with all of them. He carried the hand-held versions in an apparently tiny pouch hanging from his belt. In truth the pouch had an _Undetectable Expansion Charm_ , as well as a _Feather-light Charm_. It took him a while to come to terms with those physic laws defying charms, but once Ed managed to wrap his mind around it, he realized they gave him quite an advantage.

He actually carried a lot of useful things in that pouch, as well as his backpack—which he subjected to a similar treatment—and most of his luggage as well. He had included several reference books—on both alchemy and magic—from the bastard's hidden library, as well as a few carefully preserved and protected xerxesian scrolls he was dying to read, but had no time to with as many other things he had to take care of. Hopefully things would not be too hectic the first few months after taking the State Alchemist exam so he could dedicate time to read.

The now girl knew Hawkeye would have nothing to criticize him for as he had become nearly as accurate as she was with his own weapon. He also worked on a way to avoid being shot, and his _Protego_ shield was strong enough, although he had also used Runes on his clothing to make them bullet proof—and he had had to learn how to embroider things, it was not as difficult as he originally thought because he already knew how to sew.

He usually repaired his things using alchemy now, but there were times when he was younger—before the transmutation—when he had needed to patch his and Alphonse's clothes. He planned to justify the _Protego_ as it being an _Air Shield_ , which he was actually working on re-creating with alchemy. It was a work in progress, but the current prototype worked for one shot before breaking. It was still progress.

Ed knew such a shield would be dead useful, and might save several people from Scar. He just needed to find the correct array to have the shield reconstruct after the Ishvalan deconstructed it, and have it done on a loop without any input from the alchemist using it, until stopped by the alchemist. In a life or death fight, constantly reactivating the shield manually could end being a fatal distraction. But there was time for that, at least he expected there was.


	4. This... this didn't happen before

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Timeline:** _Mixed timelines. Starts with Brotherhood - Post Promised Day, then it's mostly Anime 2003 until after Youswell, Some Brotherhood, Starts - Post Ed's 1st human transmutation, Avengers Movie._
> 
> **Keys _:_**
> 
> "Dialog" Normal dialog.
> 
>  _'Thoughts'_ Thoughts
> 
>  _"Dialog"_ Conversations on the phone, radio, video.
> 
>  **Author Notes:** _Thanks for the review/comments as well as the kudos. It makes the muses happy._
> 
> _As I mentioned, I was not sure whether to mark this as a full crossover or not, and I've decided I won't (in Fanfiction.Net, but I might add it in AO3 if/when the time comes), mostly because the Avengers will be mentioned, and there might or might not be a few scenes with them but this will always be more about fixing the Promised Day than being in other fandoms._
> 
> _I haven't planned as far as Promised Day, so I can't guarantee the Avengers making another appearance, as anything I write has a tendency to see the outline, then throw it out the window and go its own way._
> 
> _There's a bit of action in this chapter, and if you've seen the 2003 anime, you'll recognize the scene. Just a reminder that this is Brotherhood Ed, discovering more of the differences between his original Dimension, and the new one._
> 
> _Also, if anyone is interested, I have a Spotify Playlist which I use for writing. It's mostly epic type of music which I use to inspire me, specially to plan fight scenes. I'll add the link in the next chapter if any of you want to hear it. One of my favorites is Stallion, by Two Steps from Hell. The name is already quite fitting as Roy's theme, but I believe the music fits him well too. I've not yet decided a theme for Ed, or Hawkeye there are several though._

## Chapter 004

Ed had just returned from the dinner cart, and having a surprisingly decent lunch—train food back in his Dimension had not been all that good—and was getting comfortable on his seat when Falman came into the car and casually took a look around, then stared at him for a few seconds, which Ed found rather odd. He frowned wondering why the Warrant Officer was on the train, and wearing civilian clothes. Ed did not think he had ever seen the man without his uniform before.

After what he had lived through since he was nine—and he was including Teacher's way of teaching—Ed had started to develop a warning sense, which intensified on this Dimension because of Hohenheim's 'enhancements'. Something was off, and the feeling started to get more insistent. There was also the bastard's request, knowing the way he operated, Edward was sure Mustang knew something was up, and he was counting on him to be the backup plan. If that was the case this could also be a test, to see if he had what it took to be a State Alchemist.

Unsure of what was going on, and why he was starting to feel paranoid—well, more than was usual for him—Ed got one of his dart guns from the pouch. The dart gun automatically enlarged, and he managed to discretely—he was practically at the end of the carriage, and there really were very few people there—load the cartridges containing the very small darts into his guns, the arm one and the hand gun. Each cartridge carried three hundred rounds of enchanted darts, and each gun could hold up to six, which he could exchange by pressing buttons.

Then Falman came back a second time and stopped before him. The man made an odd comment about him being tiny, and Ed mentally growled at Mustang, but he chose not to erupt at the insult. It was really hard, but Ed managed, too concerned about his warning sense going haywire to pay much attention to other things. Something bad was about to happen, and he did not want to draw unnecessary attention to himself, he just hoped it was not something like the train derailing.

His warning sense was not wrong in acting up, because as soon as Falman made his way to the front of the car again, two guys wearing sunglasses got up from the seats he was passing by. They each had a gun, and pointed it at Falman, who was surprisingly quick and had his own gun out pointed at one of the guys. Unfortunately the other was at his back, and he managed to hit Falman on the head, knocking him unconscious.

"Be quiet everyone, get your hands up!" One of the guys ordered.

Ed stared, this had also not happened the first time around. His trip to Central had actually been quite boring, even if he had been preoccupied about passing the State Alchemist Exam. Falman's presence told him Mustang had something to do with what was happening, or at least he had had enough information to warrant sending at least one of his people on that particular train. Which might actually be the reason he was practically ordered to be on the same train; Ed was now almost certain the bastard wanted to test him, and see if a... girl was able to take on something as... frightening as a hijacked train.

Ha, like that would scare him! Well, he would show the bastard what Edward Elric was made of.

This was not his first hijacking, and neither was it the first time he dealt with either terrorists or thieves, which he supposed those two could be. As he had been thinking, the thugs had Falman trussed up, and started to check the passengers, taking their cell phones, tablets, and even the laptops, but no wallets or jewellery. They clearly wanted no one to send the alarm, and this was not a robbery. This was one of the few times Ed actually accepted being below the average height for his age had its advantages, as he was able to easily hide from the terrorists' sight.

Ed had loaded the _Stunning_ darts to begin with. Then decided a demonstration of his fighting abilities was also in order. He waited until the thugs had almost reached him before he acted. With little warning he jumped off his seat, landing an automail knee to one of the terrorists' face—breaking a few teeth since he was at it—while at the same time a dart went into his companion's shoulder. Both men dropped down like sacks of potatoes which pleased Ed a lot as could still kick ass, and his darts worked just like he expected.

He then shot with another dart the one he knocked out for good measure. It would not do for the thug to regain consciousness and become a danger to the passengers. Satisfied both were out cold, and with his darts they would not be waking until he wanted them to, Ed took some pieces of plastic from his pouch to transmute zip ties to secure the thugs just in case.

There were several kinds of materials inside the pouch to transmute as needed. Things Ed would most likely not be able to obtain easily, or which could damage the integrity of buildings and vehicles if he transmuted them. Mustang had grumbled more than enough about the damage he caused, and the cost of repairs—the Colonel had actually started reducing his monthly State Alchemist grant to pay for the damages—so this time he was not giving the bastard the chance to complain.

Magically, Ed had the option of _Conjuring_ what he needed, but frankly he had not worked enough on the subject—there had been too much to do to be prepared for his time as a State Alchemist, and a member of Mustang's team because he did not have Alphonse with him—and things he could actually _Conjure_ did not last too long anyway. He was not quite sure why that was, but from what little he had researched about the subject, it might be his age, and the fact his magic was still developing. So Ed chose not to take any risks and use real materials for his transmutations.

Transfiguring would work too but Ed rather not show there was another way to go around the equivalent exchange rule just yet, even if he was not sure if an alchemist could use the kind of magic he now had. There was also the option of _Summoning_ what he needed, but then again that could take time if the materials were not readily available close by.

"Hey! Why did you do that, Kid?" One of the passengers asked looking rather fearfully at the thugs.

"Because when their friends come looking for them what are we going to do?" Another passenger asked.

"They might want to take it out on us," a third passenger added, "and we just want to get to Central in one piece."

Ed stared at the men, really? He had just saved them and they were worried about the other thugs? He was going to take care of them, though he doubted they would believe him if he told them, even after he had dealt with two already. Ed sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was the middle car, so one of the men might be right and there were others, because these two had not made any demands, so it would not be farfetched to think their leader was somewhere else on the train.

"Hey! We're talking to you, Kid!" The first man snapped at him.

"And I'm thinking, Asshole!" Ed retorted. "The military probably knew something was going to happen," he told them. "That guy's armed," he pointed towards Falman, "so he's probably MP, or a soldier. Logic dictates he's not the only one on board."

"And you're right, Kid," Vato said as he crawled back into the aisle. "The Boss wanted to make sure you were on board, didn't know why he was asking about a kid, but after what you did to those men, I suspect you're our backup."

"Probably," he said shrugging. "He practically ordered me to be on this train when I called last night." Ed took out one of the knives he carried on his left leg—which got him a few raised eyebrows—and took care of freeing Falman. "What? Haven't you heard of being prepared for what life throws at you?" He snapped at the ogling passengers.

"I'm Warrant Officer Vato Falman, deployed at East Command, who are you?"

"I'm Edward Elric, an alchemist," he introduced himself simply. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

Falman—and Ed was really happy to see him again—explained why he was on the train dressed as a civilian. This actually calmed the passengers who had not been very pleased with what he did. There were indeed military personnel on board, and they would take care of the problem. Ed offered to help, saying he was on his way to Central to meet with Lieutenant Colonel Mustang, which made the orders Falman had received earlier to check if the kid was on the train actually make sense.

Had he not seen just how fast Ed took down the terrorists, the Warrant Officer would have questioned his CO's sanity at enlisting a small child's help. But he could see the 'boy' actually knew what he was doing, and had been even better equipped to deal with the terrorists than his team had been. Those stunning darts—as the kid called them—would be dead useful if the Colonel could provide them for their team, but that would be something to discuss later.

They went each on their own to assist the other soldiers and free the train. Ed started walking towards the front of the train instead of going up, which would have taken him to Halcrow's car much faster and without much hassle. Unfortunately at this point he had no backup to take care of the terrorists inside, as he suspected the soldiers patrolling the train had, like Falman, been caught by surprise. So the first order of business would be to free them, and send them to help the Warrant Officer secure the train, Ed could deal with those posted up front.

Not long after leaving the car he had traveled in, Ed came across one terrorist guarding the exit to the next car. The idiot saw an apparently unarmed kid, and still decided to fire his gun. Ed was positively disgusted by the asshole. He would have killed any other child who happened to walk by... and damn! He had just called himself a child, so he was taking that out on the guy.

Thankfully for him, the stupid terrorist was not a good shot, and Ed found out the automail's new alloy made for a good shield—he should probably work on a way to transmute his arm into one... might need to add more material for the transmutation, thankfully weight was no problem—and the runic spells he embroidered on his clothes worked perfectly, so he was unharmed after being shot at. The ricochet bullets took down the first terrorist, and the second guy that came to investigate and also started firing blindly.

"Assholes!" Ed told the terrorist disgusted.

Once again his automail ricocheted one bullet towards the terrorist, the others were stopped by a _Protego._ The young alchemist knocked them out with a couple of darts, to keep them out of the way, no need for them to wake, and become a threat again. Then he quickly placed some bandages on the assholes' wounds, since he did not want either idiot to die of blood loss, he could have used alkahestry, but did not want to take too much time, so bandages would have to do. Ed secured them for good measure and freed the two soldiers who had been on that car, he sent them after Falman.

He did that for two more cars, where he released six soldiers and captured four more terrorists. The soldiers told him the rest of their team were in the first and second cars, closer to the General and his family. After thinking a bit, Ed decided to go ahead from the outside, and took to the roof. He could easily stick to practically any surface, even while wearing his thick boots and with his automail limbs—although he had to admit it was much easier with thinner soles—so Ed was sure he would have little trouble making his way to the first car.

He made it to the front of the train with little problem, well, not counting the fucking branch that nearly brained him and sent him tumbling down the car's roof. He barely avoided falling off thanks to his stickiness, and some help from Hughes who caught him. He introduced himself as Major Maes Hughes, which was another change, when Ed had met him the first time, the excitable man had already been a Lieutenant Colonel. So he would be promoted sometime in the next three years.

Seeing the man there, years before Ed had met him in his Dimension shocked him enough that he almost lost his grip on the train, thankfully Hughes had a good hold on him, otherwise Ed would have ended his second chance splattered along the train tracks between East City and Central. With a huge effort he managed to barely gather his wits. This was not the time to cry all over the man for getting him killed. At this point in time Hughes was alive, and he would remain so if Ed had anything to do with it.

The two of them made their way to the engine, still going on the outside of the train, and helped liberate the operators. Two shots from his hand held dart gun did the trick, stunning the men holding the engineers at gunpoint. Hughes was clearly impressed, but there was no time for the man to sate his curiosity. It was time to deal with the terrorists keeping the General and his family captive. Hughes calculated there were at least five terrorists, plus their leader, and they needed a way to flush them out of the car without endangering the hostages.

Ed was thoughtful for a few moments, trying to find a way to safely get those men out, at the moment, they were bordering one of the great inner lakes, something he knew had not existed in his Amestris, but which the memories gained from his counterpart told him about. This Amestris' geography differed more than he originally thought from the one he lived in up until a year ago. He wished he could just hose the terrorists out of the car with pressurized water... which was actually a good idea.

His passage through the Gate had given Ed quite a bit more alchemic knowledge, and he had not allowed himself to think about what the toll had been for all of that... he kept pushing it to the back of his mind because it was not that important. Maybe after he passed the State Alchemist exam, and he had secured his place in the military he could see what it was the creepy bastard took as toll for all that knowledge.

Thinking hard, Ed remembered a very nice array to manipulate water. It was Cretan, and not only could it be used to manipulate the liquid, it also transmuted it from air, specially if there were any water bodies close by... like the lake. This would give him an unlimited amount of water to subdue the terrorists, and the only requirement was that it was not activated in a desert—the cretans had another one for that.

Ed knew the Cretan water array was what he needed, but he made his own modifications to it on the fly so he could control it better, and was even able to add enough pressure to the water to push the terrorists out of the car. Without waiting, Ed warned the passengers to stay in their cabins, clapped his hands, visualized the array and just let go the torrent of water that washed four terrorists out of the car. He ran to the platform between cars, and took care of stunning the men.

Hughes took his actions to mean he had carte blanche to act, and made it into the car through a window. He took down one of the remaining terrorists with a throwing knife. Unfortunately the leader acted faster and managed to shoot Hughes. It was not a serious wound, just a graze on the shoulder, but the element of surprise was blown and the Major had no chance to do more than surrender.

With the Leader—a man named Bald—on his own, it was time for Ed to take care of him. This would be the first time since becoming enhanced that Ed would fight against another human. In a way it would be a test of his new strength, as well as the experience he had had before traveling to this Dimension. He chose to drop from the ceiling, automail leg first, before the man killed Hughes.

The blow was a glancing one—but it surprised his opponent—so Ed ended on the floor, a quick back flip, and he was on to Bald, delivering several kicks with his automail leg and using his right arm liberally, before the man had much chance of pressing any advantage. Ed had more strength—thanks to whatever Hohenheim had done to his daughter—than Bald had, and the man was huge compared to him. Oh how he hated that Amestris was full of fucking giants!

He also found the terrorist had automail, but Ed was proud to notice his was the better automail, so it did not take him much of an effort to crush Bald's. This really surprised him since Ed was not sure how strong he really was. Anyway, the fact he crushed Bald's automail like it was made of thin glass actually shocked the man enough for Ed to land a solid kick to the asshole's face with his automail leg.

Bald crashed against a compartment's wall, and fell down unconscious. Wasting no time, Ed secured the idiot, used a dart to knock him out, just to be on the safe side, and delivered him to Hughes all trussed up with zip ties included. The General was very impressed with Ed's work, and his wife fussed over him, but he was unharmed, neither Bald, not his thugs had actually landed a hit.

As a rule he did not like to boost Mustang's ego, but this time he chose to give the credit to the Lieutenant Colonel that he was due. Ed made sure to point out, after telling the General he was going to Central to become a State Alchemist, that he wanted to work with Lieutenant Colonel Mustang because he trusted the man, he was an alchemist, and the one who discovered and recruited him. Halcrow only half heartedly tried to convince him to work under his command after that.

Besides, Ed remembered the kind of reputation that particular General had in his Dimension, and it was not a good one. He treated his troops as disposable tools, he was way too strict, and was infamous for the type of punishments he doled on his people. So there was no way Ed would ever worked under the asshole's command. He would quit the military and try to stop Father from the outside if he ever ended as his subordinate.

With the terrorists taken care of, the rest of the trip went fine, and Ed was moved to the first car to help serve as bodyguard... after he dried the car. He was given a cabin to himself, although Hughes did spend some time talking his ears off—and blinding him with photos—about Mrs Hughes, and the coming baby. Ed solemnly told him he was sure the baby would be a girl, which Maes had not known since Gracia wanted it a surprise, even if he did not.

Ed also made it clear a baby should not be born at five months—after Hughes had mentioned that the baby could be born already for the tenth time. Ed was rather brutal, but someone had to contain that man's exuberance. He told the Lieutenant Colonel that if for some reason a baby was born at five months, the chances of survival were minimal, a rare few did make it, but the poor kids had all kinds of health problems because of that for the rest of their lives. This, of course, horrified Hughes so much, he thankfully began thinking things through.

The thought of losing his precious child, and possibly Gracia during a premature birth got the man to calm down a bit, and Ed thanked Truth for that. He liked Hughes, he really did, but he could be too much at times... and Elisia had not been born yet, Ed mentally cringed. Also being excited to become a parent was all well and good, but Hughes needed to actually start thinking. Ed persuaded the man to do research on pregnancies, as well as child rearing. There was a lot on the Internet after all.

When he finally had some time to himself—meaning Hughes left to do whatever he was supposed to do—the young alchemist did have the time to enjoy the comfort of modern trains. It was a definite improvement over those from his original Dimension. Ed decided he was traveling from then on in first class, and enjoyed a few privileges, like a movie, decent food, and very comfortable seats... his ass was quite pleased with the later.

He napped, chatted with Winry, and took a few photos of the landscapes they passed. Ed also added a few selfies to his social media—he was starting a photo blog of all the places he was going to visit while a State Alchemist—as well as sent them to the Gear Head, so she believed him about being in a private car. The rest of the trip Ed listened to music—a vast improvement over the music of his time—until they reached Central. Technology definitely made traveling less boring.

* * *

Once at the train station, Ed waited close to the soldiers who had been on the train due to his role in stopping the kidnapping, standing close by to where Hughes and Falman were. Both of which had already changed from their civilian clothes into their uniforms. Someone had patched Hughes shoulder, and taken a look at Falman's head, but Ed heard they would still be getting checked at the hospital. Shortly before arriving Hughes had asked him to revive the prisoners, because they had no idea how to wake them up.

Mustang was also at the station, and had spoken for a few minutes with the General, before dedicating his attention to the band of terrorists sitting secured on the floor, in front of the train. He was an imposing figure—the bastard had always been—standing tall in the much improved Amestrian military service uniform. No butt cape anymore, thank Truth, because that thing had been hideous.

The Lieutenant Colonel was wearing slacks—blue ones as the uniform's color had not changed—tucked into black polished boots, a light blue shirt peeked under the crisp lines of the military jacket. This time it was a full length jacket, not the waist high ones Ed remembered. His rank insignias and decorations were all visible, and there were more than he remembered the bastard having the last time, as were the darker blue ignition gloves. The young alchemist was surprised they were not white.

Ed liked this version of the military's uniform quite a bit, and damn, but Mustang looked good in it, and it let him see he was surprisingly in a very good shape. The old uniform had really hid too much, it had been so bulky and shapeless. But with the fitted jacket, Ed could see the bastard's shoulders were broader than he remembered.

The bastard also had longer legs than he thought. If he strained a little bit, and Ed did, he could see Mustang had a VERY nice ass... probably as good as Captain America’s... and THAT was THE ultimate male butt. Even Winry agreed, and she was a rabid Brad Pitt fan. Anyway, body, looks, that rich baritone, and...

"Fuck me!" Ed muttered in shock.

 _'Can't, he's no pedophile... that we know,'_ a naughty little voice in his mind responded.

_'Oh no, no no no no! Are you shitting me? No fucking way I've a fucking crush on that lazy, womanizing, bastard!'_

_'Yes way!'_ the stupid little voice said. _'Finally she got it! Give the girl a browny!'_

 _'What the heck?'_ Ed mentally asked confused, because... since when did he have an annoying voice in his head? _'And who the fuck are you?'_

_'I'm you... the part of you, you usually ignore. By the way, this isn't new, you liked Mustang more than you believed you should back in our Dimension too. You fought him so much because you subconsciously wanted to keep him at bay.'_

_'No, no no no, this can’t be fucking happening!'_ His mental voice had a slightly hysterical tone in it.

 _'Well it can, you oblivious idiot... and how low things have fallen when I'm insulting myself,'_ the voice added quite put out, and disappointed. _'Anyway, GIRL,'_ it stressed, _'realizing this was long overdue. You've been attracted to the Colonel for years, until you came to LOVE him...'_

 _'No, no, no!'_ Ed denied. _'I'm NOT in love with the bastard.'_

 _'My, are we hopeless!'_ the voice sighed. _'You are, thankfully you were never obvious, or we'd have been executed for being 'Freaks,'_ the voice told her other self. _'Truth knew, It owed you, and when the opportunity came up—meaning when this Reality went to hell—It chose to give you a chance at getting what your heart desired.'_

Ed's mental laugh was bitter and hysterical, thankfully he did not do it aloud, or those close by would have thought him insane. _'A chance? A fucking chance? There's NO chance in hell. I'm physically fucking twelve, and he's in his mid twenties! Mustang's never going to look at me as anything other than an obnoxious brat.'_ Which even he had to admit he had been. _'Besides, his heart is Hawkeye's, and hers is his. The Lieutenant WILL murder me if I even try anything.'_

 _'She won't, my girl. Hawkeye isn't leaving her military career, not even if he does, not that he would anytime soon,'_ the voice said with conviction. ' _She's found her place, and she's likely to find someone else that would allow her to keep her promise of protecting him._

 _'Besides, while she does love him in this Reality, and he her, it's not romantic love they feel for each other. They're more like siblings, with the Lieutenant taking the role of older sister, even when he's two years older than she is. We both know he can be such a kid at times.'_ The voice told him knowingly, because that was actually the Lieutenant's usual complaint .

 _'Huh? How is it you... I... know that?'_ Ed was mentally frowning.

 _'We still listen, even if your conscious just doesn't pay any attention to gossip or rumors, and Truth did let us know about a few changes when we went through the Gate, and It considered important for you to know Hawkeye isn't a rival here,'_ the voice... herself? Informed her. ' _Anyway, you can win Hawkeye's approval, and even support by simply being loyal and protective of Mustang, which you already are,'_ the voice pointed out.

 _'That's... I'm not... I...'_ Ed sputtered mentally. _'I'm not protective of the womanizing bastard!'_

 _'You can't lie to me, since I'm you,'_ the voice pointed out. _'You're protective of those you consider yours. That included Alphonse, who was the most important person in your life back then, and the reason why the bastard sent you to a place he's not around anymore,'_ the voice chose to explain. _'The bastard wanted us to live for ourselves for once. Anyway, you were also very protective of the Rockbells, Teacher, Sig, the Hughes, the whole team, and Mustang. You even included Armstrong amongst them.'_

Ed sighed, because he had to admit to himself that he was indeed the protective type over those he cared about, and... yes, Mustang was included. _'All right, I'll admit it. I'm a protective son of a bitch—"_

 _"Actually you are a protective BITCH,"_ the damned voice interrupted, but Ed chose to ignore it.

"— _But I don't think that'll be enough to get Hawkeye's support and approval. Besides, there's still the age difference,'_ he pointed out.

 _'There is,'_ the voice admitted, _'but there's also the fact the age of consent in this Amestris is sixteen, and you'll be mentally twenty-two by then. You can let him know about being from another Reality, in a round about way, you know,'_ the voice pointed out. _'Perhaps not right now, but in the not too distant future._

 _'Now going back to gaining Hawkeye's approval, there'll be plenty of chances, specially because you won't be going off all over the country for weeks following false leads. You'll probably end working on escort duty, once you prove yourself useful to Hawkeye; and believe me, that..._ Danger Sense _we now have will be what helps you the most to get her support. Besides, there were a lot of assassination attempts against the Colonel, and you were never told about them. Most of the time he saved himself, but... well, he IS useless when wet.'_

Ed mentally snorted because that had been very true in her original Reality. _'Hopefully he did listen to my warning.'_

 _'Oh, he clearly did, just look how much more drool worthy he's now... yummy!'_ the voice said mischievously, and Ed mentally groaned.

The Colonel Bastard had just singed Bald—the terrorists' leader—and even if she had seen him use flame alchemy before, it was still impressive. Inside her head that annoying little voice had a fucking party going—and Ed knew Truth had something to do with its existence, the stupid bastard. She was knocking off some of the teeth on that fucking grin next time she saw the creep—just because he referred to herself as a she.

Mustang was speaking to the asshole, and that calm deep voice filled her stomach with butterflies... No! Fuck no! No crappy girly butterflies for him, they better be... vultures, yeah, those were good, miniature vultures. Oh shit! She really had it bad, as her cheeks began to pink with a blush.

 _'Oh hell no! I absolutely refuse to be the blushing, dumbstruck fan girl,'_ Ed thought and imposing her considerable will, she got it under control.

 _'But you are, Sweetie Pie!'_ the voice just had to say.

 _'Shuddup, bastard!_ ' Ed growled. Once she felt in control of herself, she approached Mustang.

_'You realized you called yourself a bastard, right?'_

_'So? We are,'_ and fuck, but she was now talking in plural about herself, _'bastards, the sperm donor didn't have the fucking decency to marry Mom,'_ she thought at the stupid voice, then redirected her attention to the Colonel Bastard.

"You knew about the terrorists when I called you last night, didn't you?" It was more a statement than a question. She crossed her arms, and looked up at him. Damn, but she hated most of Amestris was freakishly tall, even Mustang, who from what she remembered was slightly below average.

"I suspected something might go wrong," Roy admitted slowly as he observed the rather small girl. "Major General Halcrow is a very important man, which makes him a prime target for terrorists, along with his family, but I had nothing concrete."

What he told Miss Elric was not quite a lie, as they had not really known the train would be highjacked until that morning, when they got the terrorists' manifesto... which he did not find out about, until after the terrorist's call. Roy took a moment to assess the annoyed little girl before him. Edward Elric did not look like much, as she did not even reach his shoulder, she actually was a few centimeters shorter. She also had such a strong masculine name for a pretty, if boyish, little girl; Roy really could not fathom what her parents had been thinking when they chose the name.

According to the preliminary reports he had received while the train was still on the way to Central, it was her who efficiently took down most of the terrorists, including the leader. She knocked him unconscious with a kick to the head actually, and from the info they had on the man, Bald was ex-military, he definitely was no weakling. His people and Maes' were rather embarrassed at being shown up like that by a kid half their age and size, they were all highly trained soldiers after all.

"You should've said something," Ed glared up at the bastard.

"We were concerned about leaks," he explained, and got a disbelieving raised eyebrow in return. Roy was not used to someone doubting his words so readily... or at least to his face, with the exception of Hawkeye... and occasionally Maes. Because even those higher ranked than him tended to be more... tactful.

"That's bullshit, and you know it." She pointed a finger at the Lieutenant Colonel to emphasize her point. The swearing got her a few surprised looks from the soldiers present, as well as the captured terrorists, but she was a civilian, so she could get away with it; no need for any disciplinary actions... yet. "No one outside my hometown knew I existed, or at least no one did until I had to step in and help take care of those sorry excuses for terrorists," she waved absently at the tied men sitting on the ground—a few actually cringed, which were those she had personally dealt with—"so my phone IS safe.

"I also doubt the assholes had the resources to even try to hack your personal phone," and there were a couple of sheepish looking terrorists... the 'smarter' ones, she suspected. Their reactions told her they had not even considered the possibility. "If it even occurred to them you own one," Ed pointed out looking disdainfully at the terrorists. Yes, she was still rather arrogant, sue her. The sheepish looking ones winced at her words.

"You have a point," he conceded. Edward Elric was really going to be an asset, she was surprisingly sharp, she was also going to be a rank booster... if he earned her loyalty and trust. Roy could not help wonder how hard that would be. "Anyway, you proved yourself to me, and to Major General Halcrow. He was so impressed, he agreed to sponsor you so you can take the State Alchemist's exam."

"I thought that was why I'm here, for the exam," she pointed this out too. After all, the first time that had been the sole reason she had been in Central. Now... a lot of things were in play, not just childish hopes, and the wish to atone for stupid mistakes. Those she had finally atoned for.

"You are, but you're also a child—"

"I'm not," she grumbled.

"—and while there aren't any laws against children entering the military," Roy went on ignoring her grumbling, "it's still frowned upon by some people. I took the risk, and now you have two sponsors; a General, AND a State Alchemist." He began walking. "Whether you take it, or not, it's still up to you."

Ed glared at him some more, because those mini vultures were fluttering like mad, just because he was looking at her, and she was coming to hate the feeling; stupid hormones! "Of course I'm taking the damned exam! I didn't come all the way to Central on a fucking vacation!"

"Very well, be in my office at Central Headquarters tomorrow at nine, just tell the guards your name, and they'll let you in. We'll discuss you taking the exam then," he instructed the small girl, who looked all boy despite the rather delicate facial features. The clothes had a lot to do with it, but also the attitude. She was brash, loud, and cursed like one of his men would when speaking to their peers.

"All right, I'll be there," she said taking her back pack—it was better than a suitcase, and she had found, in one of Hohenheim's many magical books, how to charm it with the _Undetectable Expansion Charm_ , as well as the _Feather-Light_ one—then made her way out of Central's train station in search of a place to eat and then a hotel.


	5. Tough little thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Keys:**
> 
> "Dialog" Normal dialog.
> 
> _'Thoughts'_ Thoughts
> 
> _"Dialog"_ Conversations on the phone, radio, video.
> 
> **Author Notes:** _Thanks for the comments as well as the kudos, guys. It makes the muses happy._
> 
> _More cannon deviations from here, just remember a good part of this story will take place before the start of Brotherhood, years we know practically nothing about, and which give us writers some leeway._
> 
> _After listening to my playlist, I decided Fem Ed's theme to be This is the Future by Epic North. I still haven't decided Hawkeye's yet._

## Tough little thing

## Chapter 005

* * *

Next morning she was at Headquarters on time. It was a rare occurrence for her, as Ed made it her mission to never be when responding to the bastard's summons; back then it was a matter of pride. She was looking terribly rumpled and grumpy. Ed also had a black eye, a bruised cheek opposite to the eye, several scrapes, several bruises under her clothes, scrapped knuckles on her left hand, and a split lip. The others though, had looked infinitely worse after she was done with them, which Ed was quite proud of.

She was a much better and more experienced fighter than she had been when she really was twelve, Ed was also much stronger, and her _Danger Sense_ did help... when she actually paid attention to it, which she had not done, and it had inevitably led to having to fight those assholes. Ed had actually broken a couple noses, an arm, and left a guy with a few less teeth. That was not counting the black eyes and several bruises caused by being hit with her automail limbs, so she had given as good, if not better, than she got.

Ed had tried to get a hotel room for the night after she left the train station, but she found out to her surprise no one would rent one to an unaccompanied minor; and she realized that might become a problem later on, specially when she went out on missions out of the city. A couple of those hotels had actually called the police and the Amestrian Child Protection Agency, thinking she was a runaway, which she was not.

Her situation was more dire than a runaway's, because she truly had no one, no family, and no guardians; and that was the recipe for a long stay in one of Central's orphanages. Ed saw she had no choice except to escape from them, and that on itself was a hassle—thankfully while more modern, downtown Central was as she remembered—otherwise she might have ended in a state orphanage, or group home for troubled kids, which as a 'thing' now, but did not exist back in her original Reality.

Back in her original Dimension things like what happened to her the previous night were rare. There was no ACPA—the Amestrian Child Protection Agency—to begin with, and having a seven feet tall suit of armor around helped more than she had thought. Too late did Ed realize—and that was the first time the hotel clerk called the police—the fact she had no trouble booking a room in hotels or inns might have been because people thought Al was an adult, despite the childish voice. They all initially thought Alphonse was the older brother, after all.

Since she was clearly not getting a roof over her head for the night, Ed tried sleeping on a bench in one of the parks close to Headquarters, as it would not be the first time she slept out in the open. She had even done it in Central a few times. Ed could still remember the time they had decided to fumigate the barracks, and that kept everyone out for about a week.

Unfortunately for her, Ed did not get the few hours of sleep she had been hoping for. Ed got attacked by a pervert who thought she was a little boy, a runaway, and easy prey. She was already in a foul mood, so Ed taught the pervert the error of his ways. The asshole was not the only pervert she had dealt with in her life, and she loathed their type, so after dealing with the stupid perverted asshole, she left him trussed up with a little note for the police to deal with in the morning.

Having to deal with a pervert had not been enough, oh no, not for her—and Ed blamed Truth for that—she then got mugged, or at least they tried to, by a gang of four teenagers on the way back to Central train Station, where she had planned to sleep. Ed won, she was the better fighter, but two of the assholes got lucky with a few hits since she had been too tired, as well as sleepy—her body was that of a kid, and still needed to sleep a lot—to actually pay much attention to her _Warning Sense_. It HAD tingled at the back of her mind in that odd way she had come to identify as danger coming.

In the end, Ed managed about three hours of sleep at the train station, before security took a good look at her disheveled condition and decided she had been loitering at the place long enough, and threw her out threatening to call ACPA to come pick her up. It was a busy station, and there were people at all hours of the day and night, so they should not have thrown her out. She had gone back in, and tried, unsuccessfully, to make herself more presentable at the station's rest rooms, but she gave up on it as a futile effort, so she headed to Central Command Headquarters, and her appointment with Mustang.

* * *

From behind his desk, Roy took in the disheveled and grumpy looking little girl. A year ago, he had offered a purpose to a child who had just lost two of her limbs after surviving a double Human Transmutation; a feat thought to be impossible. While then it had been a means for him to advance in rank—he knew alchemical talent when he saw it, and Elric was a prodigy—as well as a way to get him closer to becoming Führer, he was not heartless. Specially not with the people under his command, and there was no doubt in his mind Edward Elric would be, even if he had not expected her to come knocking on his door only a year after automail surgery.

Seeing the girl's condition, there was also the dawning realization there was no way he could treat her like he did his other subordinates, who were all adults. Before him was a child, not an adult, no matter how talented, intelligent, determined, or powerful she was. He could not expect her to act like an adult either, and neither should Roy keep his distance as he did with the others, because as a minor, he would have more responsibility towards her.

It was a shock to come to the realization that he did not take into consideration someone Edward's age was still growing, and was not yet mature; not that all adults he knew could be considered mature. His best friend, Maes Hughes, was a good example. She was twelve years old, and no matter how independent she probably was, Roy was certain any child Edward's age still needed adult guidance and supervision.

Edward needed an adult to take care of her, and as her Commanding Officer, he was probably going to be the one who had to provide all that for the child. Unfortunately, Roy was not sure if he would be able to. He was only twenty-six after all, what did he know about taking care of children, besides the fact that after the war he never thought he would have any. This was not counting how damaged he ended after what he was forced to do in Ishval.

As he looked at her, it was obvious Elric had been in a fight, and he was curious to know how the other party fared. Roy now had the full reports of the attempted train kidnapping, and the girl—although everyone believed her a boy, and his team would be in for a big surprise when they found out how wrong they were—had engaged a man at least four times her size in hand to hand... and won. Not only that, but she had actually crushed a military grade automail limb with her own version of it.

Her own automail was a piece of art from what the reports said, and clearly much stronger than Bald's military grade one; that was something a few of his superiors would be interested in, he was sure. The Rockbells might be getting a few military contracts if they were not too against working for them. According to Maes and the General—who where there, and witnessed the fight—the girl was clearly much stronger than her tiny stature, and slender build suggested.

Then there were those stunning, and paralyzing darts she had used on the terrorists. Roy was sure they were very useful tools, Falman had come with high praise of them. After they heard the Warrant Officer's recount of the previous afternoon, his men—and woman—wanted to know where she got them, as well as if they could get their hands on some of them. Hawkeye was particularly interested, being the team's sharpshooter.

The Lieutenant's job made her a killer, something he knew she did not like, but would still do as it was in her job description. So he knew Hawkeye would love an alternative to killing that would still allow her to efficiently do her job. It would ease her conscience a bit, and he would love to be able to provide that small peace of mind for her. But while they were interested in the darts and the guns needed, Roy was not sure Edward would be willing to share them, at least not yet, because he could bet one of his ignition gloves Elric made them.

"I would have expected you to make yourself... presentable, Miss Elric. This is, after all, a job interview of sorts." That got him a blush from her, but also an impressive death glare.

Those unique golden eyes of hers almost glowed with indignation. Besides him Hawkeye gasped, and his men gaped. Falman in particular, but then, he was the one who actually saw her in action. They had clearly been under the impression she was all boy, and he smirked at his team for getting one over them.

"Bastard," Ed snapped and glared at Mustang, "try to be presentable when no one'll rent you a room because you're not eighteen. I had to escape the police and ACPA a couple of times at least," she huffed indignant. "When I finally found a nice bench to get some shut eye, a fucking pedo thought I'd make a nice trophy.

"Left that piece of crap trussed up for the police," she informed him sounding satisfied, which she was. Dealing with the perv had been a good stress reliever, and she got that bastard out of the streets as a bonus. "Then I thought the train station would be better—and it was, got about three hours of sleep there—but on the way there those four sons of bitches thought I had money and was an easy prey. Right, like I was going to give it to them without a fight, stupid assholes! Cut a couple of them, beat them up, and broke a couple of noses." She said sounding quite proud of herself.

Edward then decided to show them what she meant about cutting them when they looked at her rather disbelieving. She clapped, changed her automail into her short blade, then back to normal, and they all looked impressed. Even Mustang, although that might be because she had not used a circle to transmute her short blade. There were also shocked looks, as they realized her right arm was automail. She glared at them, and raised her chin proudly, refusing to accept any pity, from them or anyone else.

"But the sons of bitches did manage a few lucky hits," Ed admitted. They had caught her by surprise, which was why they landed a few kicks and punches. The asshole who gave her the black eye was now missing a few teeth, and had a broken arm, as Ed got even. "Now, as I said, try to look presentable after a crappy night like that!" She huffed again, this time in annoyance, crossed her arms, and winced. One of the bastards probably cracked a rib. "Asshole!" She added to show she was not happy with him reprimanding her.

Roy stared at the girl before him and felt like utter shit. He had treated her like he would any other candidate for the exam, or future recruit, but those he had dealt with before had all been adults—the youngest was probably nineteen, if not twenty—able to easily locate room and board for themselves. But Edward was not an adult—never mind the fact she was rather tiny for a girl her age—and Amestrian laws had changed through the years to protect children, even if they were not perfect.

He should have taken into consideration no hotel would rent a lone child a room, yet Roy did not. His lack of foresight left young Edward to fend for herself; which from what she just recounted, she did admirably, but the girl should not have had to. It fell on to him to provide her with at least a safe place to sleep, since he had been the reason why she decided to travel to Central to take the State Alchemist exam. If he had never offered her the opportunity, Roy was sure the girl would not have hurried with her recovery, and be sitting before him a little the worse from wear.

Roy suspected Elric must have been scared—from what little he knew of girls her age that was the logical conclusion—and was probably still distraught, but the fire in that glare let him know she was not going to show it. She was a surprisingly strong girl. Besides, Edward was still a child, one who sought to enter a world of adults, so she was clearly not showing him what in her eyes was a weakness even if it was not. Well, he better start taking charge of the kid like he should have done yesterday, because even if she was not yet a member of his team, she was still his responsibility because he had been the one to scout her.

"Havoc, bring me the First Aid kit. Falman, go find a couple of ice packs. Breda, bring Miss Elric a decent breakfast..." Roy began instructing his men as he took stock of what was necessary to tend to the child.

"No milk!" Ed hurried to say, slightly bemused by the Colonel Bastard's behavior. "I don't like that awful cow secretion," and her words earned her a few amused snorts.

The Colonel had looked... guilty, and... angry with himself, which was a surprise because the bastard she had known would not have let his mask fall when he had met her only once before. Then Ed could not help wondering why he had looked the way he did. The bastard... Mustang... she knew had never been that attentive towards him or Al before. Sure, he did show up whenever Ed ended in the hospital, if they were in East City, and had even stayed a couple of nights so Al could get a mental break... or leave for a while to get more books to keep himself busy, but he never openly showed concern.

Why the change?

Because it was a very noticeable deviation from the way the bastard had behaved in her original Dimension. Was it because of her gender? But he really did not treat Hawkeye—or any other female soldier from what she could remembered—any different, so Ed did not think that was it. Mustang treated all female soldiers like equals, the secretaries and civilians were another matter whatsoever, as he shamelessly flirted with them. Besides, the Lieutenant would have probably shot his balls off if he had treated her like a fragile flower or something.

"No coffee, Lieutenant Breda," Riza said at the same time as the girl refused any milk. She frowned but did not contradict her, just made sure Breda knew not to give caffeine to the girl. Riza did know that was not good for children.

Riza had driven Roy to Resembool last year, when he found Edward Elric, but she did not go inside the house with him, and he never mentioned the alchemist he met there was a small pre-pubescent girl who was missing an arm. Riza thought the kid was a boy until her CO called her Miss Elric because of her name, and frankly the clothes the child wore. But now she was able to pay closer attention to the child's features, she could see the girl was actually very pretty... if one ignored the black eye, the bruised cheek, the scrapes, and split lip. Riza could also tell Edward Elric was one tough kid, most twelve year old girls would have been crying after the night she had.

"Lieutenant," Roy said as he turned to his most trusted subordinate, and close friend, "escort Miss Elric to the officer's showers, and stand guard to protect her, as well as her privacy." He did not think the girl wanted anyone—besides him, since he had seen her without them—to know about the full extent of her automail just yet, or for any male officer to walk in on her when she showered.

"Yes, Sir," Riza responded with a curt nod, then turned to the little blonde. "This way, Miss Elric," she indicated as she walked towards the outer office. The girl was staring at the Colonel with shock, and disbelief in her eyes... like she had not expected to be cared for.

"Go on, Miss Elric," Roy signalled for the girl to follow Hawkeye, which she did after shaking herself out of her shock.

He noticed she had a slight limp as well. The right ankle, which if he remembered right, was her remaining limb, and the wince that followed her shaking. It was not a grimace of pain, and he hoped it denoted her ribs might only be bruised, and not fractured. He knew Riza would see to them, which was the proper thing to do, and another reason why he sent her to escort Elric. The girl might feel more comfortable to admit those injuries which were not visible to another female.

_'Tough little thing,'_ Roy thought with a mental shake of his head.

Roy was perhaps not as surprised as he should be to see the girl did not voice, and tried hard to hide, the pain she was clearly in. She did not want to appear weak before adults, he could also see Edward was surprisingly strong for a twelve year old, as most—boys and girls—would have been crying in pain. Yet she was not, Edward barely showed it in her body language, because her face hid most of it. It was also obvious she did not trust them yet, but she would, Roy would do what he could to earn that trust.

_'The fuck was that?'_ Ed thought bemused as she followed Hawkeye to the officer showers.

If she was not wrong, they were on the second floor, close to the large officer's break room. Ed could not help wondering just what the fuck was going on, because nothing like what had just transpired in that office had ever happened to her before. Mustang had never really been... nice to her, or openly showed concern—he had done it in private once or twice if Ed remembered well—even when the only witnesses were the rest of the team.

Frankly, whenever Ed was at the office to report, or whatever, the bastard usually just made fun of her height, her handwriting, or berated her for destroying one building or another, in other words, behaved like a jerk. On the few times she had been injured he ordered her to go to the infirmary or the hospital, and threatened her with a court martial if she refused... or sicked Alphonse on her. Her little brother could nag with the best of them... until Ed ended giving up and going to the fucking hospital just to get some peace.

_'That, is Mustang taking care of his people—'_ the little voice began.

_'No one asked you,'_ she snapped at the annoyance. Why? Oh, why did Truth saw fit to provide her with an inner voice? One that was too perky and annoying for her tastes to booth? Besides, why did it just appeared now, and not while she had still been in Resembool?

_'—and realizing much earlier he isn't dealing with an adult; and should not treat you as one,'_ the voice went on ignoring the interruption.

_'I'm not a kid,'_ Ed thought as she followed Hawkeye, into the elevator. Her right ankle hurt a lot, probably sprained, although she could not remember when that happened. Her best bet would be that it happened during the fight with the thugs before she went to the train station. _'I'm seventeen!'_ She protested. It had been weird to celebrate her twelfth birthday, while mentally counting it as her seventeenth.

Ed was surprised when instead of going down to the second floor, they went up to the fifteenth. This version of Central Command was still built atop a hill which overlooked the rest of the city, and had the same kind of architecture than the one in her Amestris, but it had more floors than the other one, as well as a hell of a lot more people working there. This building had twenty-five floors—well, twenty-four, if one discounted there was no thirteenth floor—plus several basement levels.

_'Even mentally you'd be considered one,'_ the voice pointed out, and got a growl in response to that, even if it was true. A seventeen year old teenager was still considered a minor in Amestris, even if they could enlist at sixteen, they still required the parents' consent. _'And... well... Truth did do something to us so we could... act our age despite being mentally older,'_ the voice said rather tremulously, like it was afraid of Ed's response, and it was right.

_'THE FUCKING CREEPY BASTARD DID WHAT?'_ Oh, she was not pleased, not pleased at all hearing about it. It did explain a few things she had noticed back in Resembool. Things she had done with Winry she would never have back in her original Reality _._

_'They did a few... modifications,'_ It settled on saying, _'so it wouldn't be as hard to act our age, and to make it more... instinctive to behave like a girl. But really, this isn't bad.'_ Edward mentally growled, expressing her displeasure. She was definitely leaving the creep with a few less teeth the next time she met him, and Ed knew she would. _'Really, it isn't._

_'This will help us to fit better, and accept we aren't a guy anymore... even if it took you a fucking year to finally think of yourself as a girl,'_ Ed just growled again, _'talk about being slow on the uptake, Girl,'_ this got another, more menacing, growl _. 'Anyway going back to what we were talking, you probably won't travel as much as you did before. I'm certain you'll be kept close. Besides, you aren't actively chasing after the Philosopher's Stone this time around, there's no reason to.'_

Ed sighed mentally, and took a couple of discreet deep breaths to calm herself. There was no point in being angry—although that did not mean she would not get even the first chance she got—it was done, and Ed doubted there was a way to change things back to how they were before she ended in this Dimension. Besides, she had agreed to come, and become a girl, so Alphonse could get both his body, and his soul, and be returned to their Amestris.

_'I'm not sure about that. I still have to do something about them to get the homunculi and Father's attention,'_ Ed corrected, as Truth wanted those souls released, and doing that would undermine Father's efforts to become God-like.

_'I forgot about that, but I think using alchemy without using a physical array will be enough to get their attention. I think you'll still go on the same military related missions, although the Colonel might not send you alone this time around. '_

_'I don't know...'_ Ed started to think uncertain.

"We're here, Miss Elric. You'll find toiletries in that cabinet, and towels in that other." Riza pointed at each in turn. "That over there is the laundry shutter, it's for used towels."

"Thanks, Ma'am," she chose to be respectful, it had always paid to be with her, "and please call me Ed." She gave a quick look at the place, and was surprised it was larger and more luxurious than she expected.

There was an area for female officers, and one for males, but there was no door to make them more private. The area for female officers had a locker room, with a couple of long padded benches in the middle. There were several sinks on the far side with a large well lighted mirror on the wall. On the right side of the sinks was the entrance to the shower stalls, all were ample, and the doors were frosted glass, while the separations were tiled walls.

_'Whoa! This is so much nicer than the ones they had in our Amestris!'_ The annoying voice exclaimed happily.

_'Yeah,'_ Ed had to admit the voice was right. _'Although I'm not so sure about the frosted glass doors.'_ She was sure they did not really hide much.

_'Don't be a prude,'_ the annoyance chided her.

_'I... I was... I haven't... I...'_ Ed mentally spluttered, but had no chance to retort as the Lieutenant was speaking.

"In private you may call me Riza, Ed," she granted the use of her first name, and chose to use the shorter version of her name since the other was too masculine, "in public I'm Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"You go by your call sign? Does this mean you're some sort of sniper?" Ed asked pretending she knew nothing about the older woman.

Riza smiled, "Yes I am, but Hawkeye is actually my last name, not my call sign. That one's the Hawk's Eye. I'm a sniper when needed, but mostly I'm in charge of the Colonel's security, and making sure the office is working efficiently," Riza chose to explain to the girl.

Although to be truthful, it was more like baby-sitting the lot of them. She knew the Colonel was very interested in Ed joining their team, and he was certain passing the State Alchemist exam would be a walk in the park for the kid. He had mentioned that yesterday after leaving the station.

"Wow! So you're like his bodyguard?" Ed already knew that—as well as the fact that apparently the bastard did need one—but since she was not supposed to know, she had had to ask anyway. Hawkeye nodded in response. "Sounds like an interesting job, Flame Alchemy doesn't seem like it'll work when raining..." Ed mused aloud on purpose and got a chuckle turned cough in response.

"That is... correct, and... insightful, Ed," Riza was both amused, and pleasantly surprised by the girl's deduction.

"When I pass," because there was just no way she would not when Ed had already been through the exam before, "I can be backup bodyguard if you want. My alchemy works at all times," she offered testing the waters. Hawkeye looked surprised by her offer. "The Colonel's been training with fire arms, hand to hand, and other types of alchemy, hasn't he?" she whispered as she began undoing her braid before the mirror.

"He has," Riza admitted slowly, her eyes narrowing a bit. The kid was not supposed to know that, specially about the alchemy. While other soldiers at East Command had seen the Colonel perfecting his combat training—otherwise known as wiping the floor with Roy Mustang, at least initially, since he eventually improved—the alchemy he had kept a closely guarded secret.

"I was the one to pass the warning, Riza," Ed told her, and reflected on the mirror, she could see the surprise in the other woman's face. "When I... did what I did, I learned some things, not as much as I would have liked to, unfortunately, but it was enough to... suggest he kept himself in good fighting shape. The... wall's here have ears, though," she whispered, as Ed had already risked too much speaking there. "Well, I won't take long," she said louder, going into one of the furthest shower stalls.

Riza nodded, understanding that whatever the girl knew came from that Human Transmutation she performed—the Colonel had told her as much that night—and Central Command was definitely not the place to talk. "You don't have to hurry, Ed, take as long as you need."

"Thanks, Riza," she said already starting to undress.


	6. Did the child have no sense of self preservation? Of course not!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author Notes:** _Sorry about the delay guys, but I was feeling a bit under the weather when I posted chapter 5, I thought it would pass away, but it ended turning into a cough, sore throat, sore body, and... yeah paranoia hit. I thought I had caught COVID-19, got tested last Monday, and kept myself as isolated as possible. Both my mother and I have a high risk factor so I was quite worried, more for her than for myself._
> 
> _The test came negative, so that was a huge relief, but I still had that cold so I went to the doctor to get medicine for it. I also had to travel on Thursday, been waiting for that call for years, so I could not avoid traveling. I needed to be as fit as possible because if you're coughing while out anywhere paranoia hits, and people get scared, never mid the fact I would not be allowed on the plane. I carried my COVID test results on hand just to make people feel safe._
> 
> _Anyway, I'm finally feeling better, so I just went through the chapter proofreading as much as I can since I have no beta, and English is not my mother tongue, or a language I actually speak often (frankly my accent is atrocious). I use a reading App known as Voice Dream to help with the proofing, but while it's a great help, it's not made for that._
> 
> _I want to thank everyone for their kudos, bookmarks, as well as reviews/comments. I hope you like this chapter :)_
> 
> **_Keys:_**  
>  "Dialog" Normal dialog.  
>  _'Thoughts'_ Thoughts  
>  _"Dialog"_ Conversations on the phone, radio, video.

##  **Did the child have no sense of self preservation? Of course not!**

##  **Chapter 006**

* * *

A little over half an hour later she was back in Mustang's office feeling shockingly pampered, and terribly confused. Again, Ed was experiencing things that had never, ever, happened to her before. No one had ever pampered her in her past... life—she supposed—the way the whole team was doing, not even her Mom. Sure, Ed had been loved, and cared for by Mom, but since she could remember, Alphonse had always been there to share their mother's attention with; and while Ed knew there must have been a time before when she had her Mom's undivided attention, she could not remember it.

She did not begrudge her little brother the care their mother gave him because she loved him so much, but... it was really weird to be cared for by others without having to worry about dodging knives (Teacher was prone to do that), arguing with either Granny Pinako, or Winry—and fearing a wrench to the head from the Gear Head. Mrs Hughes had started to be caring to them, and she was a wonderful and motherly woman, but after Hughes died they did not talk to her as much, because Ed could not face her without feeling guilty.

At the moment Ed was wearing clean clothes, and she would need to mend the ones she wore yesterday, after she had a wonderful shower. The water pressure had been just right to help with some of her aches and pains, and it seemed the officer showers could boast unlimited hot water as well, which was a huge improvement from those in her original Reality. The toiletries smelled a bit flowery, but it was a subtle scent, so Ed did not mind it... much.

She was sitting on the couch while Fuery towelled her hair dry, and fuck, but she liked that a lot. He was quite gentle, and Ed discovered she liked having her hair dried and brushed, or simply played with. It was pure bliss, and she knew she could get addicted to that if she was not careful. Then, the bastard himself was tending to her scrapes with shocking gentleness—even her bruised knuckles—and had bandaged her ankle, properly too.

Ed had not known Mustang was well versed in first aid, but then, she had to admit she had not known much about her CO back in her Dimension. The one with medical training was Havoc as far as she knew, but the bastard had taken over. Earlier Hawkeye took care of bandaging her ribs in private, while they were still in the officers' showers. There was always a very well supplied First Aid Kit at both, the female and male, showers according to the Lieutenant. One of her ribs was badly bruised, but thankfully it did not seem to be cracked as she had suspected.

Breda, Falman, and Havoc took turns passing her stuff to eat and drink. She could tell by the taste it was not food from the mess hall, instead Breda had gone to that small diner on Führer's Way the team favored after they were reassigned to Central. She had liked it a lot, the food was delicious, abundant, and the prices were fair, Ed was glad it was still there. Breda even located—the fuck knows where—calcium enriched soy and almond milk for her to try instead of that awful cow secretion she so hated.

Ed found almond milk was actually Ok, and she knew taking calcium supplements should provide what her bones needed to grow. They had nothing like that in Resembool, but then it was a small town; or... maybe Granny refused to buy it if they actually had it in hopes to get her to drink cow's milk because those substitutes were more expensive. She took the supplements without fail everyday in the morning, and hoped this time she would actually grow taller.

She was not feeding Alphonse, or carrying such a heavy load as regular automail was this time around, as her prosthetic limbs only weighted as much as the opposite limb did thanks to magic. So Ed expected to grow normally... and maybe she would end as tall as she had been on Promised Day. Those calcium pills were how she managed to get both Pinako and Winry off her case about milk drinking the past year.

* * *

_The two women had insisted the nasty white liquid would help her heal from automail surgery, but Ed was not drinking the disgusting stuff. With those wonderful inventions that were the computer, and the Internet, she decided to search for milk alternatives. Her counterpart had memories of one of her school mates—Hans, the grocer's son—being lactose intolerant, meaning he could not take milk in any form, and he was the tallest guy in their year. Ed remembered him as being a sickly kid, but he was not in this Dimension._

_Her search did yield the results she was looking for. Ed discovered the existence of calcium supplement pills and tablets, as well as calcium rich, and calcium enriched foods. The enriched foods were not as easy to come by in their sheep town, but the pills were sold over the counter at the pharmacy._

_After she told the two Rockbell women about them, and used poor Hans as an example, they could not argue with the information Ed provided, all medically and scientifically proven. Neither had been happy about it, but Pinako had a conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Lear—Hans' parents—and that was it. They finally left her in peace about the fucking milk._

* * *

The Colonel told Ed her ankle was quite swollen, but it was not broken, so the bastard—who was not acting like one to her immense confusion—determined it was most likely a sprain, and it should be fine with just a bandage, as well as having it elevated for a time. She also suspected being off it for a couple of days should have it as good as new fast. Havoc had gotten her another ice pack for it, hopefully it would help with the swelling.

While the whole team was pampering her, Mustang had her give him a report of what happened on the train, then with both the perv and the thugs who tried to mug her. To her shock, the bastard actually coached her into how to properly give a report orally, and taught her how it should be done in written form. Ed committed the instructions to memory for her own peace of mind, as she would have loved to have known that before, instead of arguing with the Colonel Bastard every time she presented a report. The ones she wrote back then had not been too bad, but they were not all that good either from what she could see now.

Ed first gave her report on the train's events, recounting things from the moment the terrorists took down Falman. She explained how she took down the men. First pretending to be a kid with a toy gun looking for her mother since she could not remember what compartment they had been traveling in. All but the idiots who had fired at her fell for it, they had been quite gullible. Then, depending on how close they were, Ed either shot them first, or knocked some sense into the guys, and then she stunned them to keep them from becoming a threat.

She also admitted to inventing the guns, the darts, and the 'substances' she used in them—which were alchemically made. Ed also told them the 'drugs' she created were transmuted into the small projectiles, so they were completely sealed. Despite Mustang asking about the process she used to make them, Ed refrained from telling him anything about the 'circles' she used, or what everything was made of.

Ed did explain she created the dart guns for her personal protection as she knew becoming a State Alchemist would not always be safe, as well as the fact it would be very stupid of her to just depend on her alchemy to get her out of dangerous situations. She also did not like the idea of using real guns because those were deadly, and Ed did not want to kill anyone if she could help it, although she was aware it might come to that at one point. Ed would do her best to avoid it.

She also told Mustang she did not want anyone finding an 'antidote' to her darts—which was why she had alchemically sealed them—because that would render them unusable to her. The bastard clearly wanted to ask about the alchemic process she used, but she just clamped her mouth shut and refused to say anything else about it. He had sighed but allowed her to keep her secrets for the time being. Ed knew Mustang could be like a dog with a bone when he was curious, so while him backing down for the moment was a small victory, she knew he would keep trying to find out how she made her darts.

The rest of the team did not seem to doubt her, so all was good on that front; although they all wanted a demonstration, to which Ed happily agreed. Unfortunately Mustang's orders were that any demonstration of her abilities would have to wait until her ankle and rib were fully healed. Ed had huffed, and crossed her arms annoyed, but did not really protest, being off her feet would only speed her recovery, so that was fine with her. She was more than willing to show off her skill once the bastard allowed it, though. Perhaps she could wipe the floor with him in hand to hand, although she doubted he would volunteer. It would probably be Havoc, though a girl could dream.

After her description of what her darts could do was corroborated by Falman—and the explanations about where they had come from—Hawkeye became particularly interested in getting one of her dart-guns. Ed made no promises, but told the Lieutenant she would think about it, and knew that in the end she would make Hawkeye her own set of dart guns. The guns would be fitted to the older woman's hands, and most likely _Warded_ so only the Lieutenant could use them. Ed would also work on designing something special for Hawkeye, something more fitting for a sniper, and with a longer range of action.

Then she recounted the 'attack' at the park, if it could really be called that. She had found a nice bench under a tree in a secluded area of the park, and had just gotten comfortable when a man dressed in an ugly brown trench coat with sickly green accents approached her. Ed had looked at him coiled for action, although doing her best to appear relaxed. When he was close enough, the pervert had flashed her—the fucker had nothing under the trench coat, only his socks and shoes on skinny, and very hairy legs.

Ed could admit to have had a _What the actual fuck?_ moment in which she simply stared at the asshole mouth slightly agape, and eyes wide. She had traveled alone, and with Alphonse, all over Amestris for over four years, slept in train stations, park benches, and dirt roads, and no one had ever flashed her before; and Ed knew that kind of pervert existed in her Amestris.

The fact the man leering at her was a pathetic example of the male anatomy, and expected... well, Ed was not really sure what the asshole expected, but it certainly was not what he got. That moron had to have been color blind, as well as more fashion impaired than everyone ever accused Ed of being back in her original Dimension.

After seeing the pitiful image the asshole presented, and how ridiculous the man looked with knee high purple, red, and yellow stripped socks, and awful purple fake fur lined crocks. Ed could not help it, she really could not. She had actually fallen off the bench laughing so hard at the display, she actually cried and rolled on the floor while trying to catch her breath. She had been in the military showers plenty of times back in her original Reality, so Ed had seen naked—well built, as well as very handsome—men before, and she had been male as well; seeing a guy's family jewels was nothing to be scandalized about, at least not for her. Of course she could not tell the team that.

"You laughed?" Havoc asked incredulous. Most girls would have been scared, and shocked. His little sisters certainly would have—even if they were farm raised—and he would skin alive the guy who dared flash Annie, his youngest sibling, or any of his other sisters and cousins.

"Yeah, it was hilarious! That asshole was color blind or something, he looked fucking ridiculous!" She could not help chuckling as she remembered. "Man, I haven't laughed so hard for a long time!" They were all, except for Hawkeye, giving her disbelieving looks. "What? That moron couldn't harm anyone with that tiny little thing," she said slightly defensive. Mustang's eye twitched... his fingers did too, thankfully he did not have his gloves on, they did not need the bastard setting something on fire accidentally. "It really was tiny, and he should've been ashamed to go flashing that around.

"Told him so too," Ed added. Breda, Havoc, and—to her shock—Falman snorted, the first two looking like they might burst a vein. "He didn't like that very much..." There was a... giggle turned cough... from... Hawkeye, really? That was unexpected, the Lieutenant was usually quite good at appearing unfazed. The bastard coughed, like he had just choked on air.

"Of course he didn't," Roy could not help saying as he allowed a chuckle to escape his lips.

"But really, what did the moron expect flashing about that sorry little thing—" Havoc and Breda let out a howl of laughter, Fuery and Falman—would wonders never cease?—started chuckling, Mustang snorted as he tried not to laugh, and Hawkeye actually did looking very amused.

"So what happened, Miss Elric?" Roy asked once his men, and woman, had calmed a bit.

Roy tried, but could not keep the amusement out of his voice; and here he thought the girl would be traumatized by the experience. She was twelve after all, but perhaps country girls were more... open minded than city ones... or maybe it was just her. He could tell Edward Elric was a rather unique character. Also, from what Elric was saying, it was more likely the pervert had ended being the traumatized one.

"Well, he took out a knife from fuck knows where, because he did not have a stick of clothing under that ugly trench coat. It was about ten inches long." She used her hands to demonstrate the length, and everyone got serious at that. She frowned. "Really, what was with his fixation with flashing about pointy little things?"

"Ten inches is no small knife, Miss Elric," Mustang said gravely.

Did the child have no sense of self preservation? Of course not! She had tried a double human transmutation after all, and just yesterday she took on her own half a train full of armed terrorists. Then fought their leader hand to hand, a man who was very dangerous, ex-special forces, as well as about four times her size if not more... and won. After that... well Roy had to admit a skinny pervert with a knife might not seem as dangerous.

"Against the katana I transmuted from the back rest of a metal bench?" She raised her eyebrow, and everyone but Riza and Mustang gaped at her. "And I do know how to use a sword," Ed pointed out. "The fucking coward pissed himself when he saw it... or maybe it was the transmutation," she mused, then shrugged and winced as it made her rib hurt, "anyway, the asshole did not want to stay and fight, so he took off running. I wasn't going to let him escape, if he so... casually flashed me, then I'm sure he's done pervy things to unsuspecting and innocent little kids—"

"And you're not a kid?" Havoc muttered.

Ed glared at the second Lieutenant, but since he did not say the 'L' word she chose to ignore it... this time. "—so I trashed him a bit when I caught him. The moron didn't even go far, he was in an awful physical shape, a five year old could have out run him. Once I put the fear of Elric into that sorry excuse for a human being, I made a metal shackle and a chain from the closest bench, and left the asshole there with a note for the police to find."

"They found him earlier this morning," Riza confirmed. "It happened at King Bradley's Park, just four blocks from Central Headquarters," which was why she had not doubted the girl. "The police requested an alchemist to release the man from the bench, and I believe Major Hughes had Major Armstrong dispatched to deal with the problem.

"The Detective in charge of the investigation believes he's the suspect they had been looking for a few months. There have been reports of a man flashing little boys..." He had also molested several of the youngest kids, but she decided that was not something Miss Elric needed to know.

"WHO SAID I'M SO TINY YOU NEED TO LOOK UNDER THE PARK BENCH TO FIND ME? And I'm NO boy!" She exploded. Ed realized in that moment she had not grown out of her sensitivity to her vertical problem, and this time she was probably going to end... not as tall as when she was a guy. Girls tended to be shorter... well Winry had been taller than him for quite some time.

"Touchy, Chief," Havoc said and got a glare in response. He had to admit it was... impressive coming from such a tiny little thing. He had to give it to her, the boss' pet project was feisty.

"They're glad he was caught," Riza went on deciding to ignore the outburst, "and wanted to know if it was one of ours who captured the man, if so, they request a statement at the alchemist's convenience."

She decided not to mention the Detectives handling the case were very curious as to what had been done to the suspect, because he appeared to be quite traumatized. They informed her the suspect kept wailing about a 'Demon Child', or something equally ridiculous. After Ed's recount of what happened, Riza had to admit having someone laughing so hard they were rolling on the ground when they were trying to... scare them would probably traumatize the man.

Normally the MPs would not have contacted her, as she was not deployed to Central Headquarters. Unfortunately because of the case they were dealing with, Central's metropolitan police had been contacting their team, and Major Hughes—who was in investigations—when alchemy was concerned.

While Brigadier General Basque Grand was in charge of the State Alchemist Program, and should have been the one dealing with the alchemists' missions, he never bothered to work with the police. Instead the Iron Blood Alchemist left the Lieutenant Colonel—as the second highest ranked State Alchemist—to deal with them, or assign whoever was better suited for what the police needed.

"Lieutenant, please inform the Detectives the alchemist who captured the man is not yet one of ours, but is scheduled to take the next State Alchemist exam. We'll be by either later today, or tomorrow morning, with the alchemist in question, do not reveal Miss Elric's name, age, or gender, we'll deal with that once we're at the precinct," Roy told her, and he knew Hawkeye would take care of informing whoever was in charge of the case. "Now, about those muggers?"

Ed had made her report describing the teens, and the fact they caught her on the way to the train station. All four carried knives of different shapes and sizes, and were probably high on something, although they reeked of booze. They also were not so drunk as to be unable to fight. She had been tired—as Ed had already dealt with the terrorists earlier, then the perv, and it was also past her bedtime—which was why they got the better of her. Besides, her darts were a long distance weapon, and the teenagers had managed to get too close for her to use them.

She did 'reluctantly' admit to being stronger than a normal person her age—or older—was, which was the reason she had been able to defeat Bald with relative ease. Ed told them the strength was something she got from her mother so it was genetic. That was the excuse she came up with the past year to explain her abilities, which were definitely not common... or normal. Besides, Ed rather no one knew it had been Hohenheim who experimented on his own child.

Ed decided after doing some research on the Internet, she would tell anyone who asked, her powers were inherited mostly from her mother—whom she was going to say was a mutant if pressured—with a few from Hohenheim himself, and try to pass him as another mutant. Trisha Elric was not born in Amestris, which was shockingly true in this weird Dimension, and Ed had not known, but she found out when she was going through the documents she had at home. The fact Trisha Elric was not Amestrian by birth would serve the lie she was telling, as there were no records of her before she turned sixteen, or of her parents.

Roy was satisfied with the reports the girl gave him, although he could not help being concerned for her. Because Edward had not been a whole dayyet in Central City, and the girl had already had to protect herself twice... never mind the danger he had knowingly put her in by having her take that train. Since Edward was not one of his yet, and thus was not expected to write reports, he instructed Havoc to write it. The Second Lieutenant had grumbled about it, but set to work.

He was intrigued by the fact Edward could transmute without a circle, and her clearly super human strength, she had admitted not knowing how strong she actually was, so they might have to devise a test to find out. When Roy asked the girl about her alchemy, and the fact she could use it without having to physically draw either a circle or an array, Ed told him she always could. As long as she knew the array she wanted to use, and the composition of whatever she wanted to transmute. Roy suspected there was more to it, but she clearly was not telling. Perhaps once he gained her trust the girl would reveal more about her abilities.

Not long after finishing the report, Edward began nodding off. She fought sleep stubbornly, forcing herself to keep her eyes open, but not surprisingly, she lost the battle. Roy could see the girl was very tired, and had barely slept last night, never mind having to fight terrorists, and later protect herself. While Roy might not know much about children, even he knew twelve year olds were not used to all nighters, so he let her take her much needed nap on the couch after she finally succumbed to sleep.

* * *

While Roy worked on the case files of the serial killer his team had been deployed to Central for, he spared a look at his future subordinate. She was currently out like a light, with a cushion for a pillow while curled up under his coat, which she was using as a blanket. Winter was coming, but it was not yet cold enough for maintenance to turn on the central heating, so offices were rather cold. Roy knew he was not an overly tall man, at 1.73 Mts, but Edward was still dwarfed by his coat. Even when she was stretched out earlier, it covered her completely.

Watching her sleeping so soundly, and looking like an angel—which her shockingly foul mouth belied, because Truth, she swore as bad as sailors did—Roy wondered if he was doing the right thing. He was allowing a child into the military, one who had no one to take care of her, because if she truly had someone invested in her well being, they would not have allowed her to travel to Central City on her own.

Heck, a decent guardian would not have allowed her to travel alone, much less to Central City so she could become a State Alchemist. There were perverts everywhere, as her encounter the previous night proved, or worse—child trafficking did exist no matter how hard the authorities tried to stop it. Clearly the Rockbell woman was not too invested in taking care of the girl.

As Roy contemplated the prospect of sponsoring the girl to become a State Alchemist, he realized the life Edward Elric could look forward as a member of the military was a hard one; and this was not counting the fact the girl was a double amputee, and was using automail. Becoming a dog to the military would definitely not improve her situation, and he had to wonder about her motives for joining, because young Miss Elric was sure to lose whatever childish innocence she still had; with the life she had lived so far, Roy did wonder just how much that was.

After what happened to the girl the previous night, Roy knew he needed to find a safe place for her to stay until she took the exam, which she would pass—probably with flying colors—he had no doubt about it. Then she could live at East Command military barracks... probably. Roy needed to find out just how safe those apartments would be for a girl her age living alone.

Then he remembered Riza had her own place now because she had not felt quite safe there, they were mixed and some guys tended to get rowdy when they had a rest day or were on leave. So no barracks then, if Riza did not feel safe, then it was clear the place was not. Definitely not a good place for a twelve year old girl. The more permanent residence could wait for a few months, though, the immediate need was for a place for Elric to stay until the exam.

The date was in mid January this year, and they were still in October, so wherever he placed her, it would be for a few months. She would need room and board, but also access to reference materials to prepare, and perhaps someone with a broader understanding of alchemy than he had... even if Roy had started brushing up on things that were not Fire Alchemy after her warning.

Roy now carried chalk on his person again, and learned by heart a few simple arrays he could draw in a hurry should it be necessary. He had also modified his gloves with two hidden all purpose arrays on the palm side of his ignition gloves. They were not as powerful as those used by specialized alchemists, or like his fire array, but they were enough to provide him with some defense and protection. Roy had listened to the girl's warning, and it had paid off.

Thanks to Elric he had avoided a few injuries during a couple of assassination attempts the past year, as well as some missions. Being the only alchemist deployed in East Command had him seeing more action than many of the higher ups in Central Command would think, and Roy actually preferred it to paperwork, which tended to accumulate whenever he had to deals with a mission himself, or go on inspections.

One of those assassination attempts he could lay at the hands of pro-ishvalans who wanted him dead for what he did during the war, frankly, Roy did not blame them. He hated himself for what he had done in Ishval, for not having the guts to either desert, or face a court martial and probably execution.

The other attempt... they still had no information, and no one had taken the blame for it, usually someone did. Roy suspected the ones behind it had been some higher ups who were not pleased at how fast he was rising up the ranks... or perhaps there were some discontent lower ranks who had been longer in the military than him and had not been promoted.

As he thought about what to do with Elric, Roy remembered there was an alchemist he had wanted to investigate for quite some time, because there was something about his work on chimeras that set his nerves on edge. It simply did not feel right, and no, it was not just because he detested what those animals were put through. He was no animal activist, but what was done in chimera labs was just plain cruelty in his opinion. Most chimeras were in excruciating pain and did not live long... which was probably a mercy.

Roy never understood what use chimeras had, specially to the military, yet it was them who did the most research on the subject. Unfortunately, while he was in charge of most alchemical labs—not just the ones in the East, since he was the second highest ranked alchemist—and their supplies, that particular chimera alchemist's lab was not under his jurisdiction. The Sewing-Life Alchemist was actually Brigadier General Grand's special project. Roy really could not do anything openly, as Shou Tucker reported his findings only to the Iron Blood Alchemist.

Despite the fact Tucker was under Grand's jurisdiction, Roy still had to sign the man's requisitions for research materials and experimental subjects, which sometimes included things he knew were not used in other chimera labs. Perhaps Edward would not be adverse at doing some sleuthing for him, while preparing for the State Alchemist exam, and posing as a boy, she did look the part at the moment. Tucker gave him the creeps, specially since he no longer had a wife, and he did not want the man knowing Elric was a girl.

Roy also wanted Edward involved because she was probably one of the few people he knew of, who had some—more than a little actually—knowledge about human transmutation. The array Elric drew at her house had been so incredibly complex, and Roy knew no other alchemist had helped her research and create it. Well, Roy vaguely remembered the mention of a brother who had recently died when he went to Resembool last year—and whom the girl had tried to bring back to life along with her mother.

The brother might have worked with her—and he would have to ask whether he was older, a twin, or younger—but Roy did not think the other Elric had been an adult. Anyway, he was sure there had been no external help, not when that type of transmutation carried a death penalty. As to Tucker, Roy suspected for a while his... fellow State Alchemist had meddled with Human Transmutation before. This was because the man actually got his certification with a talking chimera, one whose only spoken words were to express their desire to die, and who stopped eating afterwards, and starved itself to death.


	7. I'm not an idiot!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** Nope, the characters here don't belong to me. I'm not making any money out of this, and it's for my own enjoyment and that of those who read it.
> 
>  **Author Notes:** _I have to apologize for taking so long in posting this chapter, it was done last year but the holidays got in the way, with my nice coming over after we hadn't seen her for over a year. That was great, even if we spent most of the time at home watching TV because of the pandemic._
> 
> _I would have posted last week, but we got some bad news, two of my relatives (distant, and yet we had more contact with them than the rest of the family) who have serious health conditions got COVID, one left us on Thursday, may he Rest In Peace, and the other is in the ICU. We haven't got any news, but as they say, no news is good news. Either way, we don't have much hope since he was already in a very bad shape because of his age and pre-existing condition._
> 
> _**So please, please wear a mask to protect your loved ones, and yourselves; and if you're religious please pray for all of those who are alone at hospitals, and the heroes who take care of them.**_
> 
> _Ok, now on to better news, this chapter was getting ridiculously long, nearly ten thousand words, and I haven't written chapters of this length in years... since my first fic Present Time (InuYasha) so many years ago. So I had to cut it, and... Well there really wasn't a good place for it._
> 
> _Also, in Brotherhood and the Manga, Tucker made his talking chimera in 1912 after Ed had become a State Alchemist. In the 2003 anime, Tucker made his chimera two years before Ed met him. This is the timing I'm using for this part of the story, not Brotherhood or the Manga (I haven't read it, but would love to)._
> 
> **Keys:**
> 
> "Dialog" Normal dialog.
> 
>  _'Thoughts'_ Thoughts.
> 
>  _"Dialog"_ Conversations on the phone, radio, video.

## I'm not an idiot!

## Chapter 007

"So you want me to spy on this... Tucker guy?" Ed asked as she looked at the file resting on her lap.

She absently munched on a croissant Breda had been kind enough to bring her, along with some apple juice from the mess hall when he went for his lunch earlier—he was braver than she thought for daring to eat there. The croissant was actually quite decent, though. Unlike the mess at East City, the food in Central's mess was awfully bad, so locating something edible was a very rare find. They got lucky in East Command, because, while General Grumman—who was the one in charge of East City's military Headquarters—was thin, he ate a lot, and he liked his food to be tasty, so food at the mess was very decent, as well as safe to eat.

Ed was sitting crosslegged on one of Mustang's borrowed office's couches, still tucked under his coat, which she was not giving back just yet, or... at all if it was up to her. It was a cold, cloudy autumn day in Central, and her automail ports were aching a bit—on top of her other aches and pains—and that coat was warm. If she could get away with it, Ed was appropriating the black coat, even if it was huge on her. She would grow into it, she was sure.

The coat smelt heavenly, comforting, masculine, like a warm campfire, with a good mix of Mustang's own personal scent and the man's favored cologne. As a guy Ed had always wanted to ask the Colonel where the man bought it, because it really smelled good, but he never did fearing the bastard was going to make fun of him. Ed could not help it, she loved its scent, and had committed it to memory already.

The fact she was plotting how to... borrow Mustang's coat permanently, did not distract her from the fact things were, once again, out of whack. In her hands she had the Sewing-Life Alchemist's file; unable to help it, she scowled at the photo. Ed really, really hated the guy... probably as much as she hated Envy—or perhaps even more for what he did to his own daughter—and that was saying something, as she could not tolerate the palm tree wanna-be.

They had not met Tucker until she was fifteen, right after Liore. But now, like with meeting Hughes—whom she and Alphonse had met before going to Liore—it was happening almost four years earlier. At this point in time, Ed was not even a State Alchemist yet. At least she could hope her foreknowledge of what that fucker planned to do would help her save Nina and Alexander from becoming a chimera this time.

"Yes, there's something about his chimera, the talking one he created two years ago, that seems... off somehow; and Tucker hasn't been able to recreate it," Roy admitted to Elric as she studied the alchemist's file.

He was sitting before the tiny girl, who seemed to have appropriated his coat, or was plotting to. She looked ridiculously small wearing it, and the coat was huge on her, yet, Roy could practically see it in her eyes, she was planning to borrow it permanently. He was going to have a fight if he wanted it back, which he did because it was his favorite coat, and the only one he brought to Central for this... mission.

"I'm no bio-alchemist, so I really can't tell what's wrong. It's just... a feeling that hasn't left me for quite a while." Since he began overseeing all of the State Alchemist's research requisitions to be truthful; and that was when he was recently transferred to East Command about two years ago. Tucker had just gotten his certification, shortly before .

"Hmm..." She hummed absently as she scanned the pages for something she could use to justify mentioning a human chimera.

The bastard, and Ed was not sure she could keep calling him that because this Mustang was being quite nice—and so unlike her own—had surprisingly collected so much information on Tucker. But then, she could not deny the still Lieutenant Colonel was surprisingly good at information gathering. Ed always wondered how he managed to do that, because it was supposedly more up Hughes alley than his.

What Mustang had on Tucker was actually more than she expected, even if there was not much about his research specifically. What he requested for his research was very telling if one knew what to look for. Grand tried to keep everything regarding that... fucker under a tight lid, but it was clear he did not think his requisitions, and other minutiae gave up any information about what the man was doing. Brigadier General Basque Grand was clearly stupider than she had thought.

Her eyes moved fast over the many pages... and bingo! Ed found four mentions of the wife leaving, for four different reasons, and to four different people on different dates. They were all official reports which had to be filed for different important documents, like Nina's full custody, and the divorce. There was even one life insurance claim—something that had not existed in her _Reality_ but which she found out was rather common here—but that one did not go through because there was no body, no proof the woman was dead.

According to the date of one of the reports, Mrs Johanna Tucker had disappeared three days before her husband, Shou Tucker, transmuted the talking chimera, and he presented his State Alchemist Exam a day after that. Ed knew it did not take Tucker too long to make the chimera; a few hours at most, so he must have kept the wife caged somewhere, because he had not lived in that huge house at the time. As Ed looked at the many forms in the file she saw there were other things they could use against him too.

"Do you have a trusted technical analyst?" Ed asked raising her eyes to look at Mustang for a moment, the Colonel had actually gotten comfortable on the couch, before going back to the file.

Ed knew technical analysts were a... 'thing' now, and they were in charge of gathering all electronic information available. Thanks to how modern things were in Amestris—like the rest of the world for that matter—almost every document, no matter how insignificant or obscure, was stored in one database or another. A good technical analyst could find just about anything they needed about a person, and she had no doubt Fuery was probably such a person for Mustang's team.

"Master Sergeant Kain Fuery, and second Lieutenant Heymans Breda. They are both members of my unit, and very trustworthy. Fuery is a wizard with a computer, while Breda specializes in intelligence gathering. Together they make an unbeatable team," Roy responded. "You have something?"

Roy was surprised, because he had not found anything to justify a formal investigation by the Internal Investigations Department in Central, which was the only option available to him. Anything else, Basque Grand would block, and would be out for his blood, not that the man needed a real excuse for it. The Iron Blood Alchemist did not like him much already, and Roy was not quite sure what his reasons were... there were several possibilities.

"A hunch," she admitted looking up again. "I'm not that well versed on chimeras"—even if she had learned a lot from her and Alphonse's experiences in her original Dimension, and she did know a couple of human ones—"but logic dictates that to make a talking one," Ed went on, "you need a starting point.

"At the very least, you need one animal which can talk in one way or another—you need vocal cords that can emulate human sounds—and at least another with a complex enough brain to at least be trained to communicate with humans." Seeing Mustang's frowning face she asked, "you can see that, right?"

"I do," Roy agreed after thinking about it. It was indeed the logical conclusion, and it actually followed the rules of alchemy. You cannot obtain something from nothing. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and giving the girl his complete attention. To his surprise she blushed. "So... going on, Miss Elric?" He encouraged her to keep explaining what she clearly found out.

"Ed, or Edward," she asked rather uncomfortable at being called Miss Elric, though she supposed she needed to get used to it. Ed suspected that was something she was going to deal with all her life, which most guys did not have to. She also had to fight the blush that she had been unable to stop, because having Mustang's full attention was... rather intense, and also something she had rarely had back in her original Dimension.

"Very well, Ed, continue."

"I'm no expert," Ed admitted humbly... for her, "but I know there are several kinds of parrot species, most from South America and Australia"—countries which did not exist in her original Dimension—"which can... talk. I remember seeing in a documentary some of those birds can be as smart as a three year old child." She loved the Discovery Channel (1), Animal Planet (1), History Channel (1), and both NatGeos (1). Television was such an amazing invention. "None of his reports... or requisitions show he ever used such birds.

"He also never used any of the great apes, like gorillas, chimpanzees, or orangutans, which would be obvious candidates for a chimera capable of communication, even if those species are even more protected than some of the birds," she told him. Her face showed what she thought about using such amazing animals in experimental alchemy, Ed did not approve... to put it mildly. "There are studies in other countries where some of those animals have been taught to use sign language. I've no doubt the military would provide the hominids," and she mentally included humans in there, "for him if he wanted some—"

"Unfortunately, we would have," Roy muttered, and it would have been his... duty to procure them for Tucker had he asked, just like he procured most of the animals, and he really hated giving him dogs and cats. While he was no fan of documentaries, he had seen a few through his life, and he had always thought the big apes were rather interesting.

"—which he clearly didn't," Ed continued ignoring the brief interruption. There was no doubt in her mind they would have, even if the experiments were not ethical. "Because, while I can't be certain until I see his notes, I really don't think this Tucker asshole actually knows what he's doing. He's supposedly a doctor, but... I don't know, some of the things the idiot asks for make no sense, like... AT ALL."

Ed could see Mustang was looking rather impressed at what she knew, and she could not help but preen a bit, her Colonel Bastard rarely showed his approval of whatever she did. It was one of the reasons why they were always at odds. Ed might never admit it aloud, but she had wanted the Bastard's approval. It really felt good to know she had some of it in this Dimension.

As to her knowledge about apes, well there was an easy explanation, when she was unable to do much while she waited for her injuries to heal, binge watching TV had been a good distraction from the pain when Granny would not give her more painkillers because she already had as much as someone of her age, size, and the amount of missing limbs could safely take.

Watching the TV had also been a good way to learn more about her new Reality. Besides, Ed was a bookworm by nature, she was always up for learning new things if she found the subject interesting, and she had found a good number of documentaries interesting. Since she arrived to the Dimension _,_ it had not always been alchemy _,_ even if it still was her favorite subject.

"Those experiments proved the hominids—or greater primates—are capable of expressing themselves, not just repeating a learned response." Frankly, the use of a human to make that chimera had been so obvious, she could not believe no one suspected it... or perhaps they had not wanted to see it, including herself and Alphonse. "So... where is his equivalent exchange? What's he giving up to make the animals smarter, and capable of speaking, because I don't see it anywhere!

"From these requisitions, I can see he's been using cats, dogs, racoons, squirrels, ravens, lab rats... Those species, while relatively smart, simply don't have the brain capacity for something so complex as learning a language, and then try to communicate... well the ravens might. They are actually quite smart and can vocalize, but the others?" Ed shook her head. "He might get them to parrot words, on a good day, and after at least months of training, if not years. But actually speaking for themselves? Specially without the proper vocal cords to reproduce the sounds?

"Not possible," Ed said categorically. "I really don't believe anyone could make a talking chimera with the species he used. Then there's also the issue of his timing, because he would've had to train those animals to communicate, and that's a process that might take years as I said, even if he somehow found a way to enhance the animal's intelligence, which again I can't tell until I get a look at his research notes.

"So then, his wife goes missing just three days before his State Alchemist exam, and after she 'left'," and she made air quotes, "he suddenly had a talking chimera? One that understood our language well enough to be able to express its desire to die? Nope, not fucking possible. I really don't buy it. He had to have used a human... his wife," Ed stated with certainty. "It's so obvious! I also think if those who reviewed his 'experiment' were knowledgeable in Bio-Alchemy at all, they either chose to turn a blind eye, or he has a powerful unscrupulous sponsor... or both," she told Mustang with conviction.

Ed was sure Brigadier General Grand knew Tucker used a human, and for whatever reasons he chose to turn a blind eye on it. Transmuting human chimeras was as much of a taboo, as Human Transmutation was, and Ed did wonder what Tucker used to make the exchange equivalent. Because she knew the chimeras she had known back in her original Dimension had been created using either the lives of prisoners, or low powered Philosopher's Stones.

The asshole had not seemed to have lost any body parts, and from what little she remembered from seeing his lab, his chimeras were grotesquely deformed. Ed knew there were ways to balance the transmutation, and use body parts as part of the exchange, but from those vague memories, Ed knew Tucker had not thought about it. It really was a miracle he actually managed to make a talking chimera.

Perhaps he was using a fake Philosopher's Stone, this time she would ask better questions in hope of getting more answers. If someone had access to the Philosopher's Stones at the moment, it would be Brigadier General Basque Grand—and the homunculi—because the alchemist had been in charge of Lab five before he was killed. This information was something that had not been easy to find, since there really were no records of Lab five. She did not remember well, but Ed thought it had been Barry who told Alphonse.

Back in her original Dimension Grand had only arrested Tucker because Mustang and Hughes got involved. Too many soldiers had heard her and Alphonse speak about Nina, they actually saw her, and knew Tucker had used his own daughter and her dog to make the chimera. Those same soldiers, and several of the neighbors that had come out to see what happened also heard them saying Tucker's first talking chimera had been his wife. So no matter what he tried, Grant knew he could not hide what his protégé had done, and the best he could do was feign ignorance as to the composition of the chimera which gave Tucker his title of State Alchemist.

"I see..." Roy said thoughtfully as he analyzed the information Elric provided.

The girl really was a prodigy—as he thought when he saw what remained of her Human Transmutation array—because after reading the file he provided her with, Ed had quickly noticed the discrepancies, analyzed them, and had been able to present the case in an understandable way. What Edward told him was clear enough even a non alchemist like his best friend would understand, and he was seriously thinking of asking her to write a report on her findings for Maes.

They needed to look into things with a fine tooth comb... just like she had done, and those in investigations would have more leeway to search for Mrs Tucker than he would. Because the missing persons case was still open, and the same happened with the one hundred million cenz insurance claim. Roy also wondered why no one had actually questioned how it was the chimera knew how to use their language. Because now that Edward had pointed it out, it was obvious someone had to have taught Amestrian to it, if it had indeed been a pure animal combination.

Unfortunately that chimera had let itself die leaving those questions unanswered... too convenient for Tucker, although he could not blame Mrs Tucker—if it was indeed her—for wanting to end her pain. He had seen some photos of Tucker's chimeras, and the transmutations looked to be incredibly painful, if the malformations resulting from them were anything to go by.

"You want Fuery and Breda to search for Mrs Tucker?" Roy asked just for confirmation, although after what she told him, he was going to have the Major Sergeant, and the Second Lieutenant do it anyway. He was also going to ask Maes to get his people on the case as well. They were quite good at uncovering whatever information they looked for. Perhaps he would have a few words with the Madame just to cover all bases, as his aunt was quite good at finding all kinds of information.

"Yeah, I don't think they'll find her, though. Even if what you've here is the bare minimum of the information on his research, I'm sure that chimera was her," Ed stated with finality. "The most damning evidence available, are the four reports he filed on her going missing. He told four different stories about her disappearance to four different people, and it's all in writing.

"Someone should've had to find that odd, I really don't understand how no one did," and she was really puzzled about that. Although perhaps Ed should not be. The talking chimera experiment was practically Grand's pet project, so maybe he had done something to obstruct the missing person's investigation. "Anyway, I'd like to read whatever notes he made available, I'm sure he left quite a lot of things out—if it was me, I would've—but you can also tell much by what's missing."

"Yes, someone should have," Roy could not help but agree, and he frowned suspecting Basque Grand had something to do with it, which made him complicit in the disappearance of Mrs Tucker. He was not sure they would be able to do anything against him if the General indeed knew what Tucker did. "As to his notes, it's unfortunate his research has been classified at the highest level, only those alchemists authorized by Brigadier General Grand have access to it."

"And you can't get to his notes?" She asked curious, as Ed knew Mustang had contacts just about everywhere, and quite a lot of people owed him favors. She always wondered how he managed that.

"I'm no bio-alchemist, Ed, so no; and before you ask, I can't request them for you either. You're not yet a State Alchemist, and frankly your age doesn't do you service, no one's going to believe you know enough to read those notes and understand them," he told her, and the girl clearly looked offended.

"I'm not an idiot!" Ed could not help exclaiming in indignation. "I'm probably smarter than a lot of them!"

"I know, Ed," Roy said placatingly, because he could see Edward Elric was easily offended when her intelligence... and height were questioned. "I know some of what you're capable of, and that between your ears there's actually a brain which could put most people to shame." His words did seem to placate her, and she preened slightly, almost... subconsciously, like she was not used to being complimented. It... saddened him.

"Damn right," she agreed with a curt nod.

"While I can't access his notes, I do get his requisitions, as well as any non classified reports on what happened to the supplies provided, and that includes the animals. Brigadier General Grand might be the highest ranked State Alchemist at the moment, but I'm second to him, which is why I'm in charge of reviewing all requisitions for any State funded alchemy lab, and the State Alchemists personal research projects in the whole country."

 _'He is?'_ Ed thought shocked. _'Although that makes sense, there weren't that many State Alchemists left after the war, and I never heard of any of the others being higher ranked than Mustang, with the exception of Grand; and Scar killed the guy._

 _'No wonder he was swamped in paperwork,'_ she mentally commiserated. _'Perhaps I should work on getting trustworthy alchemists into the military, and under Mustang's command. They sure would be an immense help when Promised Day comes.'_ Now, that was an idea worth exploring... a school... or... perhaps teach an advanced class to alchemists and/or soldiers who wanted to join the State Alchemist program... that... that... might actually work.

"I had the feeling his requisitions weren't matching the type of research he was supposed to be doing," Roy explained to the girl, who was listening intently. "I do oversee other chimera labs"—he hated that, because he did not really agree with the creation of chimeras just because they could—"and they didn't match. Unfortunately I can't investigate him openly because the Brigadier doesn't want anyone to interrupt Tucker's research."

"Ok, I'll do it," she said after appearing to think about it.

Ed had already known from the moment Mustang gave her the file on Tucker she would be involved in whatever the bastard was scheming about. This time she would save Nina and Alexander from becoming a chimera, and Scar's third—as far as she knew, because he had killed aunt Sarah and uncle Yuriy in Ishval—civilian victim... if that ever happened in this Dimension. She now had her doubts, as everything was changing.

"Will this investigation help me become a State Alchemist?" She asked curiously, might as well see if she could benefit from it.

"If it's successful it will count, and even if for some reason it doesn't, you will get paid as an external consultant. Your legal guardian will have to sign the contract, though," he informed the girl, suspecting a trip back to Resembool was in order after he had Falman help him redact the contract.

"I've no legal guardian," Ed told him, which was shockingly true, specially in this modern version of Amestris. In both Realities she and Alphonse had fallen through the cracks in the system. "Granny never signed the forms for us. Everyone knew we were practically orphans, and since the bastard up and left before Mom died, no one ever asked for a guardian's permission or whatever. So I raised myself, and my brother.

"Besides, no one knows if the sperm donor's dead or alive, so no one ever asked. I don't care either way," she said with a shrug. Ed knew Hohenheim was alive somewhere, but she still could not make herself care. "Besides, Resembool's small enough we don't have an ACPA office. The closest one is... about three towns away, I think. That's a problem?"

Having no legal guardian had not been a problem before. Everyone in town knew they were orphans, and while they clearly felt sorry for them, no one had done anything about it. Well... those who had worked the lands for their Mom had still done so for them. They sold their produce to the garrison, and the military surprisingly paid fairly, not caring they had been dealing with a kid.

Unlike what happened to them before, Ed had discovered there were several new laws which did affect her. Laws which the people of Resembool, and Granny had ignored. Laws created to protect children—all children—from those abused at home, to those left orphaned, not that they worked perfectly, but it was still more than had existed in her Dimension _,_ which was around one hundred years in the past.

Roy pinched the bridge of his nose, then released it. That was a shocking revelation, but it explained why Edward Elric was the unique character she was. She not only raised herself practically on her own, but also her brother. She was clearly used to doing things herself, and probably learned not to ask adults for assistance... if there were any she would have actually gone to. Perhaps the Rockbell woman, but while she apparently cared, she had not cared enough to be responsible legally for the children's well being.

"It might be," Roy admitted after a long silence. Who was he kidding? Of course it was a problem, children in her situation ended wards of the State, because Edward was too young to be emancipated. There was a military garrison in Resembool, and Roy had to wonder why they did not report the orphaned children to the ACPA. "Once you become a State Alchemist I'll be responsible for you, as your Commanding Officer," he told her, but that was not a given.

Anyone higher ranked than him could have her transferred to their units, and there would be little Roy could do to keep her, and protect her from the greedy and unscrupulous men and women who were in the military. There were good people, with morals, and loyalty to the country, but it would be a gamble. It definitely would not do, as he was the one who brought her into the military, and despite her initially being a way to get a promotion, Roy already felt incredibly responsible for Edward. He was also feeling more than a bit protective of the girl, even when so far she had proven to be quite capable of taking care of herself.

"Unfortunately the exam is three months away..." he began.

"What? It's in three months?" Ed interrupted surprised, because that was... unexpected. In her Reality Ed had simply gone to Mustang, and the man had requested he be tested. The bastard had then instructed him to take a train to Central so Ed could take the exam.

"Yes, before, anyone could request an exam no matter the date, but surprisingly there are a good number of candidates each year, even if practically almost no one passes. Some even take the exam several times either until they pass, or someone takes pity and tells them not to return.

"There's been years when no one passes." Last year was a prime example, which was why he ended in Resembool searching for alchemists, and met a just injured Edward. "This is why the Führer," Roy went on, "decided it would be better to have them twice a year, one in January, and the other in June. Halcrow is sponsoring you, along with me, for the January exam," he explained. Roy was beginning to have his doubts about having Halcrow involved being a good idea, even if it was necessary. "After what you did yesterday, he wanted you under his command."

"Yeah, he did ask, told him I wasn't interested," she responded nonchalantly.

Roy smirked. "During our briefing yesterday, the General informed me, you told him you'd only join the military if you were in my unit, and under my command." That had been a surprise, but he was quite pleased, as it told him he had some of her trust.

Unfortunately, with the General interested in becoming Edward's Commanding Officer, Roy might have trouble keeping her as his subordinate, specially once Halcrow found out she was not a boy. The Major General was not a good man, and there were rumors—more like everyone in the East knew, they just could not find a way to prove them—about his proclivities which put Edward in danger. He definitely had to find a way to keep Edward under his command, at least until she was eighteen.

Roy knew some of the higher ranks would take advantage of her, and not just her alchemy, but her body as well. Sexual harassment was not as common as it used to be, due to a protest by practically all female members of the military along with Mrs Bradley. The military had made great strides in trying to stop the discrimination, as well as sexual harassment of all its members, females and males. They, in fact, had set the example for the rest of the country.

Unfortunately, despite all Mrs Bradley's and her Department's work, that type of abuse, as well as the gender discrimination still happened, even if the instances of it had significantly reduced since the protest. The women had originally complained to their commanding officers, but when they were just ignored, they organized themselves, and threatened to quit, something no one wanted. Female soldiers now made almost half of the full might of the Amestrian Armed forces.

After the protests, and with Mrs Bradley being quite involved in them, to her own husband's surprise, the higher ups along with the Führer came with a set of very strict rules to protect them. They also created a new Department to deal exclusively with gender discrimination, and sexual harassment—this did include men, as some officers of both genders had been known to order subordinates to please them.

The Führer's wife herself—Beatrice Bradley—presided the Department of Equality Rights and Fair Conduct, as it had been named, or DERFC for short. It was feared by all male members of the military—and some females as well. No one was exempt from its reach, no matter the rank. Roy still feared Edward would be hurt before the DERFC could protect her. Should he bring the case to Madam Bradley herself?

The rumors of Halcrow preferring young girls as bed partners abounded, specially the pretty ones between the ages of twelve to sixteen. Ed was boyish, both in behavior, and the way she dressed, but sooner or later Halcrow would learn she was no boy, and she was a very beautiful child. Roy was sure he would make a move to get her then, or at least he would wait until she passed the State Alchemist exam.

The man had a family—a wife, and two young children, one of each—but that did not appear to make him stop doing what he was doing to many girls, some of them children of his own people at New Optain Command. Those girls had been easily accessible after all. No charges had ever been pressed against him, simply because most victims disappeared... their parents were transferred to other units, or they were moved out of the province with their families, and were never seen again, which was... convenient, and concerning.

Perhaps Roy should talk to the Führer, and negotiate a special contract which took into account Edward's age, gender, and status as an orphaned child. He was the one who brought her into the military, so he should be the one to make sure she was safe, or as safe as possible with her being a soldier.

Roy's mind started going over what he knew of the military's regulations which could help him keep his future subordinate safe, and it was not just because she would be an asset to him. He suspected she had been left to fend on her own for far too long, and his conscience demanded he do something.

"I see... So that's part of the reason why you want me to stay with that guy, while I look for proof that he transmuted his wife into a chimera," Ed deducted. She clearly needed a place to stay, and... because of those child protection laws she might not be allowed to buy or rent her own place, which threw a wrench into her plans.

"Yes," Roy confirmed, although things had changed because she had no guardian. He still planned for her to spy on Tucker... once he solved the guardianship problem. "I believe you'll have a better chance of finding any evidence if you have access to his house, and staying there will provide it."

She sighed, not quite sure she could be in the same room as Tucker and not strangle him, or worse, actually stab him with her arm blade. "Ok, I guess I could try to stay there, and do my best not to strangle the guy for what he's doing to all those animals, and his wife."

 _'And what he did to Nina back then,'_ she thought with a mental growl, _'because like hell am I letting that bastard hurt her this time around. Not when I know what he's capable of doing when he's desperate.'_

"Good, although spying on Tucker will most likely have to wait." Frankly he was coming to the realization they had to settle her guardianship before they could actually make any plans. "Now, going back to your guardianship, I just realized the fact you have no guardian leaves you in legal limbo..." He had been thinking hard about what to do, and as he remembered some things, Roy made a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) These channels belong to their respective owners.


	8. Apprenticeships

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** Nope, the characters here don't belong to me. I'm not making any money out of this, and it's for my own enjoyment and that of those who read it.
> 
> **Author Notes:** First of all, I want to thank everyone for their Kudos, bookmarks, and comments.
> 
> Next, I'm sorry about the delay guys, but real life does exist and it tends to get in the way; and that's not counting I binge watched The Mandalorian (I've been a fan of the original Star Wars trilogy forever, as well as what's now called the Legends Universe) and I absolutely adored both the Mandalorian and Grogu. All this led to an insane rabid plot bunny taking hold of my muses. So the Fullmetal Alchemist/The Mandalorian crossover nobody asked for was born. I just could not help myself, and I already have around 6k words of it.
> 
> Anyway, I already had this chapter written since before I posted chapter one. It's rather long, and it just needed some proof reading, so I finally got down to do it, and here it is.
> 
> I'm probably going to start updating every couple of weeks, since I really need to have at least two or three chapters ahead of the one I'm posting to avoid taking too long over updates. Right now I have up to chapter 12 but chapter 13 is giving me some trouble even when I have several ideas for it and a few others more.
> 
> Well, that's all, please enjoy! :)
> 
> **Keys:**
> 
> "Dialog" Normal dialog.
> 
> _'Thoughts'_ Thoughts
> 
> _"Dialog"_ Conversations on the phone, radio, video.

##  **Chapter 008**

* * *

_"Good, although spying on Tucker will most likely have to wait." Frankly he was coming to the realization they had to settle her guardianship before they could actually make any plans. "Now, going back to your guardianship, I just realized the fact you have no guardian leaves you in legal limbo..." He had been thinking hard about what to do, and as he remembered some things, Roy made a decision._

* * *

The decision was... rash, and rather unlike him, but it would give him the right to protect her. Roy would have leverage against higher ranked officials who might simply transfer her into their units, although his solution would delay a bit the investigation on Tucker. Roy was in no hurry to get him, they had a few months until the State Alchemist Exam, so it could wait. He would also have to modify his initial plan, as the fact Edward was a girl would not remain a secret for long, and Tucker might hear about it, because the rumor mill at Central Command was surprisingly efficient.

As to what he was going to do, it would be life changing, but Roy did not see any other way. He remembered there was a very old military... tradition, which could help him keep Edward under his command until she was an adult. _Military Officer Apprenticeships_ —which had been the precursors of the Amestrian Military Academy, and were also known as _Family Apprenticeships_ —were still possible, although as far as he knew they were rarely used in this day and age.

The apprenticeships had been a part of the Amestrian military practically since the seventeenth hundreds, when according to the Strong Arm Alchemist, the Armstrong family had joined the Amestrian military. It was around that time when the first Military Dynasties started. If his memory served him well, the... Apprentice program was still included in the current rules and regulations handbook. Everyone had to read it whenever there were changes, and the last time had been about a year ago.

Major, and State Alchemist, Alex Louis Armstrong had also mentioned it some time ago. Frankly, Roy had forgotten how it came into the conversation, but he did remember what it had been about. The man loved to talk about his family, which was one of the oldest military dynasties in Amestris, and their achievements. Armstrong's father—now a retired General—had made use of it when both the Major and his eldest sister, Brigadier General Olivier Armstrong, chose to join the military.

The siblings had been... apprenticed as officers under their father's command since they were young teenagers, as both knew from a young age they would be following the old family's tradition of having members in the military. The minimum age for the apprenticeship was ten, but both Armstrongs had been older, already in their mid teens. An officer's apprentice initial rank was Second Lieutenant, if the parent was a commissioned officer, and while Oliver Armstrong worked her way up the ranks—she was a Brigadier General now—Alex had become a Major after he became a State Alchemist.

The Military Officer Apprenticeships' rules would not allow the child to be separated from the military parent, guardian—or relative in some cases—while still a minor for their protection. This rule also recognized the existence amongst the higher ranks of unscrupulous individuals, without actually having to mention it directly. The fact children in the military needed this protection was proof enough not all members of the military were upstanding individuals. It was for that reason why the apprenticeship was not considered nepotism. This was also how military dynasties had perpetuated themselves, as not all their children chose to attend the academy.

Roy decided he was going to take advantage of the fact a son, daughter, or ward apprenticed to an officer could not be removed from the guardian. He should probably add an alchemy apprenticeship as well to speed up the guardianship paperwork, as that was easier to get than full guardianship of a child. Roy knew from experience it could be done, as Berthold Hawkeye—his Fire Alchemy Master, and Riza's father—offered it when Roy became his apprentice, but his aunt had not agreed.

Edward did not need the apprenticeship, she was clearly way past the stage of being anyone's apprentice, in fact, she would probably be the one teaching him, but no one needed to know that. The alchemy apprenticeship was only a stop gap measure to protect her until he had the guardianship, and the Military Officer Apprenticeship secured. On top of that, Roy might still talk to the Führer and his wife to ensure the girl would be safe. Decision made, Roy stood up, went to his desk and picked up the phone, then called Hawkeye. He was sure she would help him take care of things, she was efficient that way.

"Lieutenant, I need you to do a few things for me in regards to Miss Elric." That got him the kid's attention, but she said nothing, just waiting to see what he was going to do.</p

_"Yes, Sir. What do you require?"_ Riza responded immediately.

"I need you to get me a military alchemy apprenticeship contract for a minor," Roy told her, and could practically see her eyebrows raising in surprise even if she was in another room. "As far as I know they haven't been used in ages, and if the child is ten and up, there's no need for parent or guardian approval, as long as the child has talent and agrees to be trained.

"The rule is still active if I'm not wrong. I'm sure Falman would know about it, and can confirm if my memory serves me right." The girl opened her mouth to protest, but he raised his hand in a gesture asking her to wait. She closed her mouth looking puzzled. "I need it ASAP. I also need the rule book for Military Families Apprenticeships, and lastly, who do you know who can help me to obtain guardianship of Miss Elric, the sooner the better."

_"Sir, are you sure?"_ Riza asked shocked. Why would he need to become the girl's guardian?

"Yes, Lieutenant. Major General Halcrow is very interested in her..." he knew that should be enough to clue her in, Riza had ranted against the General to him often enough, as well as their inability to do something about what the man was doing to young girls. The soft gasp on the other side told her she knew what he meant.

_"What about her actual guardians?"_ she enquired, as Riza was under the impression the old woman at the automail shop was the girl's legal guardian. _"If I'm not wrong, because Miss Elric is a minor, her guardian can specify the name of the officer she's to serve under until she's of age. It's an old rule, but it's still part of the book, and active."_

"I found she hasn't had one for..." Roy trailed off uncertain about how long it was since Edward had been left on her own.

"Since I was five, when Mom died," Ed informed him rather dumbstruck at the turn of events.

"... seven years." Roy winced, and the girl clearly noticed, but she had a completely dumbfounded expression. He did not blame her, she had been on her own for far too long, no wonder she had looked so surprised when he took the initiative of providing some basic care for her.

_"I see..."_ Riza said slowly. That was shocking, but it somewhat explained a few things about the girl, which had... disturbed her.

It had been clear during Miss Elric's reports, and the one from those on the train, the girl had not expected anyone's assistance. The little blonde had not expected the adults to take care of things like most children would—even she would have when she was Elric's age, and Berthold Hawkeye was by no means the example of good parenting. Neither had she cowered in fear at finding herself in dangerous situations, like what happened to her the previous night. Miss Elric had simply dealt with those things, probably the same way she had always done, by herself.

_"I'm sure Falman knows more about the Military Officer Apprenticeship, Sir, but I do know you must indeed have to be the girl's guardian. It would keep her safe from... unscrupulous men, or those who would use her alchemy for their own gains. She's too young to become a weapon."_ She was not sure who might be listening in, as there was always spying going around in Central, so Riza decided not to mention Halcrow by name. " _Despite how competent Miss Elric seems to be for a twelve year old, she would still be easy prey for the unethical._

_"Unfortunately, there are some of those in the military, Sir."_ That was as much as she would admit on an open line, as it really was no secret. _"As to the guardianship, I believe grandfather might help, he knows a lot of people here in Central"—_ before he was relegated to East City for some reason— _"May I be excused for an hour, Sir?"_ She was not calling him from Central Headquarters. Riza was making her own military career, on her own merit, without mentioning she was Lieutenant General Grumman's granddaughter.

"Of course, Lieutenant, take as long as you need. But tell Falman I need that contract today, we won't be leaving Headquarters until I have that signed, registered, approved, and archived." With Edward as his alchemy apprentice Roy was ensuring Halcrow would not easily have the girl transferred to his command, but it was not... fool proof, hence the need for the Officer's Apprenticeship. "Also, before you leave, please book Miss Elric a room at our hotel, preferably close to either your room, or mine."

_"Yes, Sir. I'll do that right away, for how long?"_ It was a good first step in ensuring the girl was safe. She should have stayed with them the previous night, but it had clearly not occurred to Roy the child was too young to be on her own, and no hotel would rent her a room.

"Book her for the rest of the week, the same as us. Once we have signed, and archived the contract, we'll see about looking for temporal military housing until we can return to East city."</p

While he had initially planned for the girl to stay at Tucker's house starting that evening, once he thought about it more carefully, Roy realized the fact she did not have a legal guardian put a wrench on those preliminary plans. The girl was too vulnerable, never mind the fact ACPA could easily remove her from the house if someone reported it for any reason. If she did find something on Tucker, Roy would not put it past Grand to do something like that, just to remove the problem.

As to their housing arrangements, Roy had initially planned on staying at the military hotel close to Headquarters, because due to his rank, the military barracks were not an option. They had single and shared apartments, but they were usually reserved for non commissioned officers, or lower ranked commissioned ones. Most often Lieutenants, and Captains.

With a dependent—as an apprentice, or a young ward would be considered—Roy would be able to request one of the family units, there were usually some available for cases like theirs, temporary assignments. The smallest ones were two, or three bedroom apartments, and the larger ones were houses either at the military base outside of Central, or at one of the military neighborhoods scattered about in the metropolis that was Central City. Of his team, only Riza, Havoc, and him had been staying at the hotel, the rest had not minded to live temporarily at the barracks.

_"Yes, Sir. I'll place the request for housing once I return. Do you prefer a house, or an apartment?"_ Riza suspected an apartment would be much better. There were a couple of military housing units close by, within walking distance. Hopefully there were available apartments.

"An apartment, with three bedrooms, Lieutenant. I'll also appreciate if you stayed with us to act as chaperone. I'd rather not be accused of impropriety by... certain individuals."

There were several higher ups who would love nothing more than to get him dishonorably discharged, or imprisoned. Then there was Halcrow, who would do what he could to get the girl, not only was she a very capable fighter, and alchemist, she was also very pretty. It made her very attractive for someone like the Major General.

"That should only be necessary until I have full guardianship," he added to reassure her.</p

They were very good friends, and at one time they tried a relationship, before she entered the academy. It had not worked, but they had remained very close, she was like a sister to him. At the moment, Riza had been seeing someone from another unit in East Command. A Second Lieutenant as well, and it seemed she was serious about that relationship, for her, he was hoping it worked, or he was at the very least singeing the guy if he hurt her.

_"A chaperone is a good idea, Colonel. So I'll stay with you, and Miss Elric once we have a place, Sir."_ She agreed knowing it was important to keep any rumors of impropriety at the minimum. Specially since they did not know how long it would take to obtain the girl's guardianship.

Roy hung up and turned to look at the girl, who had clearly not expected an adult to actually decide to be responsible for her. Roy could also see why she had not been as distraught as he thought she would be after the previous night's events. Edward Elric was used to taking care of herself, and did not expect adults to do it for her. The girl had had to become independent at a very young age, because there had been no one who chose to take care of her and her brother.

Well, things were going to change, Roy took care of his people... even if he now realized Edward needed a very different kind of care than the rest of his team, and she also required protection from certain unsavory individuals. He always suspected Mrs Halcrow knew of her husband's... indiscretions—most of the military in the East suspected he was a violent pedophile, so she had to have heard about it—and he rather not find out for sure at Ed's innocence expense.

"Why?" Ed asked wide eyed, and in shock. "Why would you do that for me? Why would you make me your apprentice? You barely know me, and... what about that Tucker guy? Wasn't I supposed to stay at his place?"

This changed a lot, because in her original _Dimension_ the bastard never took a personal interest in her or Alphonse. Ed had simply been his brattish subordinate—and yes she could admit to being quite difficult with Mustang—and the one who would help him raise high enough in the ranks to one day become Führer.</p

Mustang on the other hand, was the Colonel Bastard who berated him for the destruction he left behind, while giving them leads on the Philosopher's Stone so they could one day recover Alphonse's body, and perhaps his own limbs. Despite his... attitude and behavior, Ed respected Mustang, and he suspected the Colonel did care about them, at least a bit. He was neither blind, nor deaf, he had noticed most of his military related missions were carefully selected.

The man had kept away certain individuals Ed heard had... interest in boys his age. East Command's rumor mill was quite efficient, and there were always rumors, which had behind a lot of truth. Mustang either sent him away on a mission when those men were around, or managed to keep close enough so Ed was never alone with them; and there had been a few requests for... private consultations, which the older State Alchemist always... chaperoned, much to those men's displeasure.

Ed began to worry what Mustang was doing would change the timeline much more than it already was. Meeting both Hughes, and Tucker, a few years earlier was already throwing a wrench at her foreknowledge, and Ed was not sure how to deal with that. Unfortunately she did not think there was a way to stop those changes. Mustang had that determined expression on his face which said he was not taking 'no' for an answer, and the bastard could be just as stubborn as she was.

Roy sighed, and returned to his place at the couch. He sat leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped under his chin, and he observed the very confused girl sitting before him. She had, most likely unconsciously, pulled her legs up on the couch, and was hugging them. A protective gesture that let him know she was most likely feeling vulnerable, and out of her depth.

"The fact you don't have a legal guardian changes things more than I initially thought, Ed," he began.

"Why? It hasn't before, we lived at home on our own most of the time. I learned to cook for Al," and there was a lump in her throat at the mention of her brother. She still missed him so very much, but at least Ed knew her Alphonse was safe, and whole. "I made sure there was food for us to eat, and the farm produced enough so we had money for necessities and services. Granny took care of that at first, to teach me how to do it, but by the time I was seven, I took over everything.

"The bastard," and at Mustang's curious expression she explained, "our father, one day just up and left without an explanation, only a few months before Mom died. Well HE, did leave us enough money... at least, to live comfortably, but I didn't want to touch that if possible, Alphonse agreed.

"Then Al died in that stupid accident, and I tried to bring him and Mom back..." she paused as there was a lump in her throat. Thinking of her little brother still hurt, and probably always would, but Ed had to learn to live without him. It was, after all, the second favor Truth asked of her in exchange for Alphonse's whole being and health. "I had to use some of it for the automail. It's expensive, even if I helped with the design and transmuted the alloy used on my limbs."

Ed still grieved for Alphonse, because, while her little brother was safe in her original Dimension, they were still separated with no way to contact each other; and the one here was dead. The year Ed had spent in Resembool recovering from automail surgery, had also been a time to grieve the loss of both Alphonses. The only thing that helped her go on with the 'favor' she agreed to do for Truth, was the fact she knew HER Al was safe; it gave her comfort.

"We did chores, like Mom taught us, and for a while we went to school, it was so boring because we already knew what they were teaching. But Al liked going to school, so we kept going," she told him how life had been for herself and her counterpart until things changed when the Al from this Dimension died. "A couple of nights a week we'd go to Granny's for dinner, and spend the night there.

"No one said anything about us living alone," Ed pointed out, "or about me taking over the farm." She had done it back home as well, that had been how they had food at the table. "Everyone knew our father had up and abandoned us, and Mom died in the epidemic that decimated the border towns; a lot of people from Resembool died because of it. When Teacher accepted us, we just left with her, until we finished our training and got back home."

"I'm sorry you had to raise yourself, and your brother... was he older?" Roy asked curious, and wanting to know just how much input the boy had provided for that Human Transmutation array.

"No, Alphonse was a year younger than me. He died in a stupid accident a little over a month before we met, and I... I... still miss him so much." She had to fight to keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks, Ed was not crying in front of the Colonel Bastard. "I just... I just don't understand why? Why have things changed so much you want to become my guardian?" And this question was something Ed knew this version of Mustang would not really be able to answer, or at least not be able to provide a complete answer. He, after all, did not know Ed was a Dimension Traveler, or the fact they had worked together for four years.

"You've been on your own long enough, Ed, and you shouldn't have," he responded firmly, even if he did have some doubts.

"That's not the reason why, or at least the whole reason, Mustang." She pointed out a bit more harshly than she intended, but still curled up on the couch. "I'm not an idiot... or naive."

"No, you aren't," he admitted, then sighed again. He did not want her to worry but, perhaps it was for the best that she knew about the hidden dangers of being in the military. "Halcrow is very interested in you, and at the moment he doesn't know you're a girl, but once he does..." he trailed off. She was smart enough to catch his meaning in no time.

"Oh, for fuck's sake! Another pedo?" She huffed exasperated. Mustang snorted, but his expression turned serious. "And this one's after girls?"

"Nothing has been confirmed, Ed, but nearly everyone deployed at the Eastern province knows about it, and those with daughters between the ages of ten to sixteen keep them well away from New Optain's Command," Roy told her seriously, and he could tell she began listening intently. "The rumor mill at East Command is second only to Central's, and it's surprisingly efficient," he explained. "He's... a very dangerous man, and to make things worse, he hates me."

"So he probably didn't like it when I told him, 'thanks, but no thanks', I'm team Mustang," she told him.

"I don't believe he did," he responded allowing a small amused smile. "And team Mustang?" Roy raised an eyebrow, he actually liked the sound of it. She blushed, despite her bruises, Edward looked very pretty, but also quite innocent, and it strengthened his decision to protect her. The smile turned into a smirk.

"Er... so if everyone and their uncle knows this guy's a pedophile, then why hasn't anyone done anything to stop him?" Back in her original Dimension _,_ Ed had not heard any rumors of that kind about Halcrow, only that most hated working under his command. He was not good to his troops, he treated them as disposable, and his punishments were harsher than they should be, it was rumored some of the soldiers under his command had actually died from them. In other words, that man was a nasty son of a bitch according to those who worked under him.

"Because there's no proof," Roy responded, and proceeded to tell her what was known about Halcrow, and his victims. He also explained why he was going to such lengths to protect her, not only from the General, but from others who would use her as a weapon, and not care she was a child. Edward clearly did not like being called a child, but while she scowled at it, she said nothing.

"I see..." it was actually a good plan, and she had heard of the Family Apprenticeship from Armstrong, that man rarely shut up about his family and what they had passed through many generations in the military. "So you're doing all this to... protect me." Ed found this difficult to process, as she was not used to having a protector... at least not out in the open, "but you'll also benefit from me entering the military, right?" Her Mustang had.

The question took him by surprise, but after a moment to gather his thoughts, Roy responded. "Yes, I'll probably be promoted to Colonel for recruiting an alchemic genius into the military," he decided to be candid. She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it. "But, while that was my original motivation when I went to Resembool looking for a powerful alchemist last year, it isn't anymore.

"Knowing what I know about you now, Ed, I just can't, in good conscience, allow it to continue. Even if you suddenly decided you don't want to be a State Alchemist anymore, I would still get your guardianship, or find a good family to take care of you." Roy told her sounding earnest, and completely truthful. He was sure Maes and Gracia would not mind taking her in, his best friend would probably spoil her rotten... if she allowed it.

The protest she had ready simply died in her mouth. What could she say to that? ' _Damn you, Bastard! Why are you being so... kind to me this time around?'_ "I don't want to live with a family. It'll be a reminder of what I had, and lost." _'It'll be too fucking painful,'_ she mentally added.

"Then you agree to become my ward, as well as my apprentice?" He needed a verbal confirmation of her acceptance.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Then it's settled." He offered her his hand to shake, stretching over the center table. She carefully uncurled from her position, and offered her left hand to shake. "Now how about we order some lunch?"

"Sounds good," she agreed. "I'm starving!"

The croissant Breda brought her was practically an appetizer, and she was getting really hungry. Before, Ed ate for two, herself and Al—she had been so stupid on those times she tried to eat less feeling bad because her brother could not eat—and now she still had to eat too much, but because of her enhancements.

* * *

Roy had called Fuery and asked for him to get them something to eat from the Xingese restaurant they discovered the other day, as the mess hall's food was as close to toxic waste as it could get. It was a small place, but close to Headquarters and the food was excellent. He ordered what had become his usual, and had ordered something he thought Ed would like, a smaller amount. Roy was rather surprised when she told him she actually needed to eat a lot more than girls her age and probably women too. She reluctantly admitted it was because of her enhanced abilities.

Edward was rather defensive about her eating habits, and Roy suspected people had commented on it, and not in a favorable way. The girl clearly did not reveal she was enhanced to everybody, so people would not understand what she needed to stay healthy and grow. He did not blink at what Ed told him, glad he had such a good poker face. It clearly was something which bothered her, and if he wanted to earn her full trust, Roy needed to accept her... quirks, and provide for her needs. She looked relieved at his lack of comments, but once again said nothing.

Fuery made the call, and placed a few extra orders for the rest of the team. By now he knew exactly what everyone liked, as it usually fell on either him or Breda to take care of ordering food. He also sent a Corporal to get their orders; while their team was not assigned to Central Headquarters, they did have a small platoon at their disposal to assist with their investigation until they returned to East Command to resume control of their regular troops.

* * *

Vato arrived with the Alchemy Apprentice Contract, along with the Military Family Apprentice one, shortly after the food did. He sat with both his Commanding Officer, and the child who had impressed him greatly the previous day; he was even more so after learning she was a girl. He had daughters, and knew they would have been terrified to have been in the situation they found themselves in yesterday, yet Elric had kept her calm, a very cool head, and actually did what trained soldiers had not been able to.

The Warrant Officer could not say he approved of his CO allowing someone so young into the military, as a father he would not have wanted that for his daughters. At least not until they were both old enough to decide whether they wanted to enter the academy, or enlist. Vato's eldest had decided she wanted to be a software engineer, while both his twin son and daughter wanted to enter the military academy when they turned eighteen. Next year.

As they ate, and were soon joined by Lieutenant Hawkeye, Vato explained the contracts to his Commanding Officer and Miss Elric. Both paid close attention to his words, as well as made intelligent questions, which he responded to the best of his ability. He could not say, after what he saw the day before, and what the girl told them earlier, that he was surprised she was practically an alchemy genius. She was also more mature, and apparently more responsible, at times, than his teenage children, and she was much younger.

After they finished eating, Hawkeye took care of making the few changes both the Lieutenant Colonel and Miss Elric wanted on the contract. They had surprisingly agreed on most of it without modifying too much. The Colonel wanted it specified in writing he was not teaching her Fire Alchemy, as he planned for that knowledge to die with him. Hawkeye agreed on this, and to their surprise so did Miss Elric.

For the girl's part there were only a few things regarding the people she knew in Resembool, as well as her property. Normally apprentices owned very little—they were usually children and young teens—but she had inherited her mother's lands, and the wealth her estranged father left them when he abandoned his family. Roy agreed to only assist as well as provide advice in the management of the lands, and monies, while the girl kept control of everything.

There was one clause she did object rather vehemently, which confused Roy, unfortunately it was not one they could modify. Even if she would not be considered a member of the military at the moment, Miss Elric would have to wear the uniform without any decorations and rank insignias for the alchemy apprenticeship. The same would happen with the Military Family Contract, but she would have then the rank of Second Lieutenant.

Unfortunately for the girl, the uniform was part of the regulations. He suspected they would have to be specially made for her, and once she took the State Alchemist Exam, the rank would change to Major. Since there was no way to get out of it, Miss Elric grudgingly accepted her fate, specially after Riza told her she could wear the slacks most of the time, as she herself preferred. The skirts she rarely wore, as they were required wear only for special occasions.

The contract was printed, signed, and Falman took it to Human Resources to have the secretary seal it received, register it, and archived into his file in the general personnel archives. They would also provide a copy with all the important seals for his file at East Command, and one for the State Alchemist archives, which was also located in Central. Falman was to deliver that copy as well.

Thankfully neither of the contracts Roy wanted required any approval by his commanding officer, which was Lieutenant General Grumman. It would have delayed things too much, as he was in East City. With the Alchemy Apprenticeship taken care of, they only had to wait for the Warrant Officer to return with the copies for them and East Command. The later could wait to be delivered until the mission was over and they returned to East City.

Once the rest of the team went back to work, Riza told them what she had talked about with her grandfather, who happened to be Lieutenant General Grumman. She had explained Ed's situation to him, as well as their concerns about Major General Halcrow's interest in her. Her grandfather was not happy to hear about the other General's interest in a minor.

Lieutenant General Grumman had too heard the rumors, and actually had a team discretely working on it, as New Optain—where Halcrow was deployed—was under his jurisdiction as part of East Province. His people in Investigations had made progress, as they had managed to track some of the victims and their families, but they did not have enough evidence yet to court martial him.

Her grandfather had asked Riza to wait on the line while he made some calls to people he knew in Central, and who could definitely help them. Judge Hannah Alfred was an old friend who worked in one of the Family Courts at the Capital, and after the Lieutenant General presented their case, she wanted to speak with them at eight the next morning in her office.

Judge Alfred presided the 2nd Family Court on the First District Judicial Building, which was in the same District as Central Command. She wanted them to show her both, the Alchemy Apprenticeship and the Military Family Apprentice, Contracts. After that, work resumed in the office, meaning the team dedicated their time to go over what they had of the Chopper's case.

"I'm bored," Ed declared after laying on the couch for a while doing nothing. Mustang wanted her off her feet at least for that day, so she was not allowed to do anything. "Why don't I help you with whatever you're investigating?"

"NO!" Was the resounding answer by all the team's members, Mustang the loudest of all.

"Geesh, don't bite my head off! I was just offering to give you a hand," Ed huffed rather surprised at their response. ' _What the fuck are they working on?'_

"Thank you, but no," Roy told her firmly. They were investigating a serial killer, and the photos of the case were gruesome. He had seen quite a lot since Ishval, but even that had not prepared him for what that beast did to his victims.

"Why not? I'm your apprentice now, shouldn't I begin doing some work? Why are you in Central anyway, weren't you stationed in East City?" Now she was just plain curious.

Roy sighed and his men, and woman, all stopped doing what they were supposed to, and looked at him just as expectantly as Ed. He glared at them, not that it did much good, as they were probably curious as to what he was going to say to the girl. Which left him in a quandary, the case was gruesome, and those murders had been going on for at least three years. He could lie to her, but Roy suspected that would damage what little trust he might have gained.

"There have been a number of brutal murders here in Central in the past years. The victims are all women," Roy began, "and the Police has been unable to stop the murderer. They, and we agree, believe them to be the work of a serial killer." He could see the girl was interested. "Normally the military doesn't get involved in this type of crimes, but it has been three years and there are no clues."

"And it's happening in the military's back yard, so now it's a matter of honor," Jean said interrupting his CO.

"Havoc," Roy said in a warning tone, sparing a glare in the Second Lieutenant's direction.

"Shutting up, Boss," was the irreverent reply as he got a cigarette from its package and placed it in his mouth. Jean did know better than to light it, as both Hawkeye and the Boss disapproved of smoking in the office. He knew from experience that at least Hawkeye would shoot him if he tried. The Boss would just torture him with latrine work for a week on top of his normal work, and probably rob him of another prospective girlfriend.

"The Central Command's Investigations Department has been assigned to assist the Police in catching this killer, and they in turn assigned the investigation to Major Hughes. You met him yesterday on the train," and the girl nodded at that. "He's a close friend, and we have worked together on occasion.

"They required more people, so he requested my help, and that of my team," Roy informed the girl. "My Commanding Officer—Lieutenant General Grumman—agreed, and we have been temporarily deployed to Central Command until the case is resolved, or an alchemist is required back in East City."

"Ok, I could still help you..." she tried, while her mind tried to recall if there had been a serial killer on the loose in Central when she took the State Alchemist exam. Ed came up blank, as she had not been paying attention to anything else but passing said exam.

"Miss Elric," he began addressing her more formally for appearances sake, and she frowned, clearly not happy by the way he addressed her. Roy would have to ponder what, exactly had bothered her later. "I have been to war, seen and done... terrible things, and I have to admit what this animal does to his victims is extremely disturbing. Bad enough to give anyone nightmares. You are twelve years old," he pointed out and she actually growled. He could not help but think it was surprisingly cute, instead of menacing. Roy did refrain from commenting because he did not want to find out what, if anything, she might try to do to him.

"I'm no kid," she protested.

Ed had seen her share of horrible things, beginning with that terribly deformed homunculus they had transmuted when they tried to bring their mother back. At least she eventually found out—meaning she had had to dig up the... corpse—it had not been her, and that eased some of the horrible guilt she felt about the events of that night. Much as she wanted to ignore it, Ed had to give the credit for that to Hohenheim. He was, after all the one who asked if the thing they created looked anything like his... lover.

"I've seen awful things..." she started but was interrupted by the bastard.

"Be that as it may, Edward," he tried her full name instead, and she did nothing. Roy really needed to find out what exactly she objected to when called Miss Elric. "I'm now in charge of your well being, and exposing you to what this... madman"—they believed it was a man since what was done to the victims did require more force than a woman was believed to have—"does to his victims would be irresponsible.

"You really don't need to see those photos," he told her with conviction, but also letting the fact he cared for her mental well being show. "They truly are nightmare inducing." The girl huffed at his words, and crossed her arms looking annoyed. It saddened him to see Edward was really not used to being protected, like most children had a right to.

"Ok, I won't ask about the case. But I'm bored," Ed actually whined. "Really, really BORED," she insisted. "I'm DYING of BOREDOM." The team snorted at her... antics, but really, Ed hated to simply be still doing nothing. She could be perfectly still reading, but there was nothing in that office she could read. "I need something to DO." The bastard sighed, then frowned, and looked like he was thinking... She... was wary of that look.

"All right, I'll give you something to do," he told the girl. He thought for a moment, then said, "Sergeant Fuery."

"Yes, Sir?" Kain asked curious.

"Please requisite a laptop, with external mouse, and a graphics tablet from the IT Department. I want it capable of doing alchemic simulations, deal with complex mathematical and chemical equations, as well as complex image rendering. It should also have the regular office software.

"Tell them it's for my alchemy apprentice, and please request IT to grant her access to the internal network... Internet access should be available, as well as to the First Library Alchemy section, as my apprentice she should have access to most ebooks." After a quick 'yes, Sir', Fuery left. He turned to the others. "Havoc, bring Edward a legal pad, as well as writing implements," then he turned to the girl. "I want you to write a report on your findings on Shou Tucker. Everything you told me, include it there, as well as your conclusions. Use the legal pad for the time being, but I want it typed... You do know how to use a computer..."

"Of course I do! I might've been raised on a sheep town, but we do have Internet there, we ain't savages!" she interrupted him offended. He just smirked, and she felt like punching it off his smug face. Back home, in her original Dimension, they had nothing of the sort, but after a year here—and with her counterpart's memories—Ed had become quite proficient with that type of tech.

"As I said, I want it typed so I can present it to Major Hughes in Investigations. I believe that should keep you occupied for a few hours."

"Yeah, I can do that," Ed grumbled. It was not what she would have liked, but it was at least something to do to keep from dying of boredom.


End file.
